After the closures of Kickass Torrents and Torrentz.eu, the torrent community now bids farewell to ExtraTorrent, once the second most popular torrent site worldwide.
ExtraTorrent has officially shut down. Users should stop searching for 'extratorrents unblock' and 'extratorrents proxy' websites.
In a clear message on its homepage, ExtraTorrent announced on Wednesday that it has permanently shut down, bidding "farewell" to its millions of users.
The shutdown message reads: "ExtraTorrent has shut down permanently. ExtraTorrent with all mirrors goes offline. We permanently erase all data. Stay away from fake ExtraTorrent websites and clones. Thanks to all ET supporters and the torrent community. ET was a place to be..."
The message does not explain the reason for the shutdown but indicates that the popular torrent index will not return.
Launched in November 2006, ExtraTorrent became the world's second-largest torrent index after The Pirate Bay, with millions of daily visitors and a very active community.
Torrent sites often suffer shutdowns and domain changes, so users are not too disappointed. They believe if one site goes down, its mirror will soon appear.
This is the second significant torrent site to close recently, following Torrentz.eu, which was the largest of its kind at the time of its closure.
TorrentFreak contacted the site's operator, SaM, who confirmed it was the end for ExtraTorrent, saying, "It's time we say goodbye," without giving further details about the reason.
SaM also confirmed that ExtraTorrent's release group ETRG is gone, but Ettv and Ethd could remain operational "if they get enough donations to sustain the expenses."
Impact on the Entertainment Industry
Torrent websites have always been the free alternative to paying for content, causing billions in losses annually to the entertainment industry.
Last month, hackers leaked ten episodes of the Season 5 premiere of Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black," which was scheduled to debut on June 9 with 13 episodes. This caused significant damage to Netflix and Larson Studios.
Recently, hackers leaked the highly anticipated movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" on BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay with a BluRay print after Disney refused to meet the attackers' demands.
