Two of the largest French piracy sites have just announced their dismantling simultaneously. For the moment, it is not known who is at the origin of it.
For French amateur pirates, finding a film or series in VF will become more complicated. The illegal download site “Zone-Telechargement” and the streaming site “Tirexo”, both very popular in France, announce their closures. On the Zone-Telechargement home page (or rather its replica, we will explain it to you in a few moments), the site managers indicate that “there will be no recovery / sequel”. After many twists and turns, will the adventure really end?
Zone-Telechargement already dismantled in 2016
Reading the title of this article, you may have felt like you were traveling back in time. For good reason, Zone-Telechargement was already closed for the first time in 2016, when the gendarmerie carried out a major operation that led to the arrest of several individuals. At the time, France’s leading piracy site, Zone-Telechargement attracted millions of visitors each month. Numerama had followed the affair which had led to the creation of replicas by imitators, including the site which is now closed. The audience of the new Zone-Telechargement was not known, but its popularity is supposed to be lower.
Why are these two sites closing at the same time? The lack of justification by their creators may suggest that the French authorities are behind it. Has an ultimatum been issued? Difficult to know for the moment, especially since the Association for the fight against audiovisual piracy refuses to comment on the case for the moment, according to journalist Tristan Brossat.
With the emergence of streaming, piracy had gradually decreased in France and around the world. The proliferation of services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, OCS, myCANAL, HBO Max, etc. begins to create the opposite effect. If piracy sites have lost their splendor, they continue to attract many Internet users. We will now have to do with two sites less, unless someone takes them over.