Police in Australia say they have charged a 27-year-old man in Queensland, a state in northeastern Australia, after investigators allegedly found about 23,000 sexually explicit images involving children on his computer.
Okay News reports that the Queensland Police said the material was linked to children who were allegedly contacted and groomed online.
Queensland Police Chief Superintendent Denzil Clark, a senior officer in the state police service, told reporters that detectives had identified 459 alleged victims from the collection of photos and videos.
Clark said the alleged victims were aged seven to 15 years old, and that they lived both in Australia and in other countries.
He said police will allege that the suspect deliberately targeted young people on popular social media and online gaming platforms, and that the alleged offending happened between 2018 and 2025.
“It will be alleged the man actively targeted the victims on popular social media and gaming platforms and the offending was between 2018 to 2025,” Clark said.
Police also alleged that the suspect created multiple fake online profiles, using both male and female identities, and then used those accounts to groom, coerce, and threaten children into sending sexually explicit material.
Clark described the allegations as deeply disturbing and said the harm to children can be severe. He warned that police are increasingly seeing children pressured into creating and sharing explicit images of themselves through apps, games, and social media platforms.
Authorities said the man now faces 596 separate charges, including more than 200 counts related to producing child abuse material and 87 counts linked to sexual activity with a child over the internet.
The case comes as Australia has moved to tighten protections for children online, including restrictions linked to concerns about adults using social media platforms to find and exploit young people.
