France, US Shut Down Site Selling Women Sexual Images

Authorities in France and the United States have dismantled an online platform that trafficked in stolen intimate images and videos of thousands of women and girls, arresting two brothers suspected of running the operation.

The men, aged 21 and 25, were detained in northern France on Tuesday and identified by the Paris prosecutor’s office as the “main administrators” of NudeLeaksTeens.

Several websites tied to the platform have been taken offline.

Prosecutors said the platform distributed “packs” of private sexual content obtained through hacked social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, as well as revenge porn and grooming.

More than 17,000 women of all nationalities were affected, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, including children.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a separate statement that the site “offered for sale sexually explicit images and videos of children”.

It said the platform sold its content in specific albums, including one advertised as containing “6,200 private nude files” of mostly American teenagers or adults from hacked accounts, including child sexual abuse material.

French investigators also seized digital assets including bitcoin worth more than 700,000 euros.

Users on the platform were encouraged — in exchange for virtual currency — to provide identifying information about each victim, who were listed individually by their real names and categorised by age, location and occupation.

French prosecutors said the operation was part of a joint effort with US law enforcement to “combat child pornography, as well as the distribution and sale of stolen private sexual content involving women”.