Torrentz.eu quietly bid farewell to its users after 13 years online. The website, regarded as one of the largest repository of torrent material, has decided to shut down, surprising its loyal followers.
The operating team behind Torrentz.eu left a simple message on their website: "Torrentz was a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine combining results from dozens of search engines. Torrentz will always love you. Farewell."
According to Engadget, the said website, which is regarded as one of the world's biggest torrent site, was first founded in 2003 by a person identified only as Flippy, and has since become one of the most reliable sources of torrent links.
The ceasing of operations of Torrentz.eu follows KickAss Torrents' official shut down. KickAss Torrents, also one of the most reputable torrent websites, ended its services after its Ukranian proprietor Artem Vauli was arrested and charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering.
In the information, Vaulin is accused of illegally reproducing and distributing copyrighted material worth more than $1 billion.
Vaulin's arrest is part of the serious crackdown on torrent sites in order to curtail piracy and massive copyright infringement.
Unlike the case of KickAss Torrents, where the founder was arrested and operations were raided by authorities, the reason behind Torrentz's end remains unclear and its founder has remained elusive as to comments. It is presumed, however, that it shut down voluntary due to legal pressure on torrent-hosting websites.
Similarly, Solarmovie also decided to terminate its operations voluntarily. Solarmovie is one of the top streaming portals of pirated movies and television series.
Torrentz is one of the longest-existing torrent website, having predated The Pirate Bay and managed to maintain its operations until recently. The main reason for this was that Torrentz.eu does not host torrent links directly. Instead, it presents itself as a meta-search engine and links to other sites such as The Pirate Bay. But even with this strategy, many rightsholders strongly opposed the website. According to Torrent Freak, the website was reported by the RIAA and MPAA to the U.S. Government.
Prior to its shut down, Torrentz.eu had ranked 186 on Alexa in terms of most visited websites globally.