Popular torrent site ExtraTorrent was permanently shut down on May 17, following a brief message posted on the site's homepage. ExtraTorrent ends up third in the list of fallen torrent sites, after Kickass Torrents and Torrentz.eu.
The BitTorrent community was taken by surprise after the unexpected closure of ExtraTorrent. The message is clear that the service provider will be shutting down indefinitely after erasing all user data uploaded on its servers.
As of May 17, users who tried accessing the site's homepage will be seeing the following message:
"ExtraTorrent has shut down permanently.
"ExtraTorrent with all mirrors goes offline.. We permanently erase all data. Stay away from fake ExtraTorrent websites and clones. Thx to all ET supporters and torrent community. ET was a place to be...."
Meanwhile, TorrentFreak has reached out to ExtraTorrent's owner, SaM, who has confirmed that the site will not be revived and "it's time we say goodbye."
The untimely demise of ExtraTorrent could also mean the end of associated release groups such as EtHD and ettv. It is not known if the site was under any legal threat from the big entertainment companies and domain name services, forcing them to shut down their business.
"Ettv and Ethd could remain operational if they get donations to sustain expenses and if the people handling it are ready to keep going," adds the report.
Nevertheless, SaM has confirmed that ExtraTorrent's primary release group ETRG will not be functional hereafter. So, that will be some bad news for all movie buffs who were accustomed to ETRG's famed releases on torrent sites.
