Dark web/Deep web use is illegal?

If this is not allowed to talk about here, I apologize. A couple of days back, when a friend came over to my house, he talked about something called dark web and deep web. He said it contains things that we can't find on the Internet otherwise. He told about using it with tor browser, onion and things, most of which I didn't understand. He even showed me some websites, he said, is in the deep web. I was curious about the mystery behind it and wanted to know about it. One of the first things I came to know is that this dark web thing is mostly used by criminals for illegal transactions. Since my friend used it in our home, I am worried if we have done something illegal. Some articles like this: Is it a Crime to Use The Deep Web or The Dark Web? says searching in not illegal unless I have used it for some illegal purpose. How true is that? How much of dark/deep web usage is safe without any legal punishments? P.S I want to know about just for academic purpose, have no intention of using it.

It's legal to use. It's all about what you do on the deep web.

Be careful when entering it. There are lots of hackers and virus. I recommend accessing it from a virtual mashine.

It's just another network.

What you do on it determines your legality.

They're all legal in most parts of the world. Though most criminal (internet) activity does occur on the deep/dark web (since it makes not getting busted easier), majority of deepweb users are harmless people doing harmless activities (libertarians and anarchists sticking it to the man, privacy freaks not wanting their internet use tracked, teens circumventing internet filters). You get your occasional pizza ring ransomware extortionist hacker, but all in all those sites/networks are not quite as shady as some think.

TrainTrackHack said:

They're all legal in most parts of the world. Though most criminal (internet) activity does occur on the deep/dark web (since it makes not getting busted easier), majority of deepweb users are harmless people doing harmless activities (libertarians and anarchists sticking it to the man, privacy freaks not wanting their internet use tracked, teens circumventing internet filters). You get your occasional pizza ring ransomware extortionist hacker, but all in all those sites/networks are not quite as shady as some think.

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I worked with a guy who said his "friend" would get drugs delivered to his door through the deep web. He was sketchy, I'm pretty sure his "friend" was himself.

The best way to browse Tor is with a Live CD of Tails.

Thank you guys for making that clear. Again, I won't use it for anything, especially any of the illegal things.

Yeah, I call bullshit and I've seen worse on the Internet.