The well-known file-sharing service Zippyshare has stated that it would cease at the end of March 2023. The cloud storage platform became well-known among law enforcement and developed a cult following among pirates.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that pirates frequently used Zippyshare to share games and music on cloud storage services. The website launched in September 2006 and offered its services for free for 17 years.
Why is Zippyshare shutting down?
You will see a banner at the top of Zippyshare.com informing users that the service will close down at the end of March. In addition, the company urges users to back up their files before the site goes dark. Further information on the shutdown is present in a blog post on the website’s home page.
The article notes that fewer people have visited the site over time, probably due to the growth of alternative cloud storage services, which have better looks and more functionality.
The use of ad blockers was a problem for the free file hosting service, as highlighted in a blog post by Zippyshare. The website tried to add more adverts to make up for the increase in ad blockers, but it didn’t really work.
According to TorrentFreak, Zippyshare still has about 45 million monthly visitors. It actually ranks in the top 1000 websites in terms of daily traffic, and throughout the years, the service has received over 14.5 million requests to remove URLs that contained copyrighted content. You can infer its level of popularity from that.
According to the notification, the service will discontinue due to the expense of massive servers and growing electricity costs, which have increased by 2.5 times in their area. The proprietors can no longer afford to keep the site up to date.
Nothing in the paper mentions any potential initiatives, including the possibility of a paid subscription. It merely announces that Zippyshare is closing. Given its popularity, it seems odd that the owners aren’t also soliciting donations.
