Dark web was young when it surfaced as a measure to combat eavesdropping and to finally secure data.
The Naval Research Laboratory funded by the US developed TOR network, which is now lovingly termed as dark web.
Later, several changes came to the tor project and it was publicly supported not as a governmental project but as a not for profit one.
One of the main aims off pushing such a project to existence was to secure data and provide privacy.
Websites started to grow and evolve.
User groups were also enjoying the various .onion extensions they had.
But Dark web marketplaces hosting illegal content and illicit trades became regular occurrence.
Please learn more here:
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/TOR-third-generation-onion-routing