The sites had more than 350,000 combined registered users, most of whom watched the clips for free.

Some users, however, paid 0.001 Bitcoin (currently about $113) for a monthly subscription which allowed them to access all of the content, investigators said in the joint statement.

The files were clicked some 900,000 times in total before the platforms were seized in September, it said.

Investigators were able to act after they found that the websites were operated from data centres in Germany.

Analysis of the seized servers ultimately led them to a 38-year-old man living in Brazil.

Brazilian police arrested the man in the southern city of Foz do Iguaçu in September, according to the statement. He faces several years in prison if convicted.

German investigators have since turned to identifying the users and subscribers of the platforms.

dpa