YggTorrent knocked offline by hacker alleging extortion and data hoarding

A hacker using the alias Gr0lum says it "emptied, then destroyed" YggTorrent earlier this month. In a manifesto, the attacker accused Ygg's owners of "DDoS attacks against competing trackers, purging uploaders the moment they opened their mouths, sabotaging your own API to prevent anyone from using third-party tools." Launched in 2017, Ygg grew into a major presence in French-language piracy and became a reliable source for timely releases of French-language films, movies, magazines, books, games and so on.

It stirred controversy with the 2025 introduction of a €15-per-month "Turbo" subscription, without which it became harder to download files. Some onlookers were glad to see Ygg taken down a peg, while others regretted the apparent loss of its centralised repository of timely French torrents.

Ygg's torrents have already been scattered to various other trackers, some of which struggled to keep up with the influx of Ygg refugees.

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