Two of the biggest French download sites are closing their doors as the country cracks down on illegal streaming.
Zone-telechargement.cam, one of the biggest French download sites, and Tirexo, an illegal streaming platform, will cease to operate, Le Soir reports.
French authorities have embarked on a hunt for pirating sites in recent months and have increased the number of closures of illegal download sites in the country.
Now two of the biggest illegal platforms have gone offline, and are taking with them communities that are tired of having to find a new home each time.
Two major players are out of the game
Considered the biggest download site in 2016 with 3.7 million active users per month, Zone-telechargement was forced to close after the arrest of its three creators by French police.
Several attempts to replicate their services were created, until the opening of zone-telechargement.cam in August 2021, which presented itself as the true successor of the original.
Its creators have now chosen to shut it down again, though they did not explain why they decided to abandon everything.
“We have closed all old and new domains linked to our site. The site's database will be completely destroyed. There will be no resumption of the site,” said the owners of Zone-telechargement.
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Tirexo, an illegal streaming platform on which users could watch tens of thousands of films and series, has also shut down.
“The Tirexo adventure ends here. Thank you for everything,” their website announced.
“You can rage, yell, insult us (if we're allowed to do that, I had to remove some comments, it hurt my heart), it won't take away anything from what we've done for you and us so far. Bye.”
Tirexo will remain accessible for a few more days, its creators said.
