Yeah, you could be held liable for downloading that stuff. Maybe you'd be legally protected as a publisher, or perhaps you'd be liable as an individual — but I don't think anyone wants to risk going to prison for possession of child pornography just because they opened a website (pedos mostly stick to the dark web, which comes with much less risk).

That was a huge issue back when I used ZeroNet. There where allegations of websites hosting cp all over the place, and you weren't gon'o take the chance even if the allegation was obviously fake. There where also crypto miners absolutely everywhere, which is why I quit.