In November 2016, the illegal download site Zone Download closed its doors following the arrest of its leaders. But like the mythical Lernaean Hydra, although one head was severed, others grew back soon after. Copies that have allowed lovers of the genre to continue to illegally get their hands on many works. Only, in this month of April 2022, two famous illegal download sites are closing their doors without warning.
A sudden closure
For several years now, the government has been hunting down illegal download sites and platforms. Particularly popular sites, visited by several million users every day, who have had to face the democratization of streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney +. Besides the rise of streaming platforms, illegal download sites are victims of a government-led witch hunt.
And after the closure of the Download Zone site in 2016, two new sites are closing their doors without warning. As users of these sites have noticed, Zonetelechargement.cam and Tirexo announced their respective closures on Monday April 25, 2022:
“It is on these few lines that we announce the closure of the ZT site […] We have closed all old and new domains linked to our Download Zone site (including ForumZT)! The database will be completely destroyed and the CMS will not be distributed, so there will be no recovery/continuation.” explain the site Zonetelechargement.cam
“The Tirexo adventure ends there, thank you for everything” could we read on Sunday on the portal of the illegal streaming site. “You can rage, yell, insult us (if we’re entitled to that, I had to remove comments, it hurt my heart), it won’t take anything away from what we’ve done for us and you until here. Bye” share the creators of Tirexo.
At neither site was a reason shared. Nevertheless, it’s a safe bet that the closures are legal. However, other sites and platforms should take over. With the rise in subscription prices, many Internet users have taken over the management of illegal download sites and platforms.