It appears that The Pirate Bay rival KickassTorrents has become more accommodating of takedown requests following its overtake in 2015 of TPB as the largest torrent site operation. KAT operators have admitted that in compliance to DMCA notices, the file-sharing site has deleted over one million of uploaded torrents, a new comparison.
As of the last count, the exact figures stand at 1,200,313, according to TorrentFreak. The report added that removal of torrents from KAT has accelerated lately, reaching a high of more than 50,000 torrents purged in the past months.
Some torrents even disappeared real-time or the soonest users upload them, TorrentFreak said.
In comparison, the former number one torrent site TPB is not even close if the race is all about torrent purging. The site is notoriously known for ignoring takedown requests and proof of which was its stubborn hosting of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead torrents despite the flood of DMCAs sent by the shows' producers.
KAT users who shared GoT or TWD torrents, for instance, are likely to find the contents obliterated swift enough but not for TPB uploaders. Torrents of the popular televisions shows remain hosted by The Pirate Bay as its operators have insisted that contents will only be removed for specific reasons.
TPB routinely checks for contents that are loaded with malware, spam and child porn. These torrents will be deleted no questions ask but not the same case for legitimate uploads. The TPB team has openly declared its adherence to free sharing on the internet no matter the relentless campaigns by copyright holders to push the site into extinction.
In KAT's case, it's clear that the operators would want to avoid tussling with authorities and content producers. The site's willingness to honor DMCAs is glaring proof but in the process of abiding by the requests, KAT users are left to wonder if the site remains friendly to free contents and downloads.
The status at the moment, TorrentFreak said, is like this: Users upload torrents then KAT deletes them when DMCA is received, and then users re-upload or reactivate deleted torrents. "In addition to reviving torrents, users also regularly re-upload files that have disappeared, starting a perpetual cat-and-mouse game," the report said.
Adding to the confusion is KickassTorrents' seeming deliberate action of keeping KAT users in the dark on the matter. Per the TorrentFreak report, "the KAT team isn't getting actively involved in the takedown discussion."