Torrent fans have seen TorrentDownloads, one of the most popular torrent sites on the internet, get blocked by leading browsers Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
For the past two years TorrentDownloads has been one of the top 10 torrent sites on the internet.
In 2016 it was ranked as the tenth most popular torrent site, but this year it has risen up to number nine.
But in the past few days fans of the leading torrent site that are using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox will have noticed something different.
Chrome and Firefox users that try to access TorrentDownloads today will see the site has been blocked, TorrentFreak reported today.
Instead of seeing the homepage for TorrentDownloads, visitors will get a warning alongside a striking red background.
For Chrome users, the message says: “Attackers on torrentdownloads.me may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers or credit cards.
“Google Safe Browsing recently detected phishing on torrentdownloads.me. Phishing sites pretend to be other websites to trick you.”
While those using Mozilla Firefox received a similar warning.
It said: “This web page at torrentdownloads.me has been reported as a deceptive site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.
“Deceptive sites are designed to trick you into doing something dangerous, like installing software, or revealing your personal information, like passwords, phone numbers or credit cards.”
In the aftermath of these warnings appearing TorrentFreak spoke to the operator of TorrentDownloads.
They said: the warnings had ben triggered by a rogue advertiser which was immediately removed from the site.
They said: “We have already requested a review with Google Webmaster after we removed an old affiliates advertiser and changed the links on the site.
“In Google Webmaster they state that the request will be processed within 72 hours, so I think it will be reviewed today when 72 hours are completed.”
It’s important to point out that no warnings are appearing for people visiting TorrentDownloads using Android devices.
Last year The Pirate Bay was hit by similar warnings for users accessing the torrent portal via Safari, Chrome and Firefox.
In May, September and October last year visitors to The Pirate Bay received the same ‘phishing’ message became of third-party adverts.
It left millions of users unable to access the world’s most popular torrent website.
The news comes after a number of popular torrent websites like Kickass Torrents, ExtraTorrent and Torrentz.eu have all shut down this year.
These sites have all closed up shop after the penalties for online piracy have become more severe and ahead of Google launching its Chrome ad blocker.
The upcoming ad blocker is expected to have a big effect on torrent sites and the revenue they bring in.
Adverts that will be affected are those which don’t fall within the “better ads standards” including pop-up ads.
The owner of one torrent site, who did not want to be named, said the Google Chrome ad blocker could signal the end of torrents.
They said: “The torrent site economy is in a bad state. Profits are very low. Profits are f***** compared to previous years.
“Chrome’s ad-blocker will kill torrent sites. If they don’t at least cover their costs, no one is going to use money out of his pocket to keep them alive.
“I won’t be able to do so at least.”
The penalties for online piracy have also become more severe this year thanks to the Digital Economy Act becoming law.
The new law raised the maximum possible sentence for online copyright infringement offences from two to 10 years.
The maximum sentence will only apply to people who commit serious copyright crimes, such as distributing content.
Daily Express :: Life and Style Feed
