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2005 - 2012
Megaupload
“The orange download page behind countless links.”
- Birth year
- 2005
- Shutdown year
- 2012
- Lifespan
- 7 years
- Peak era
- 2005–2012
- Company
- Megaupload
- Category
- File Sharing
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What Was It?
Megaupload was a file-hosting service used to store files and distribute them through links. It became a familiar destination for people following downloads from forums, blogs, and message boards.
A hosted file became something that could be shared through an ordinary web link. That made the service useful beyond its own homepage: a forum post or personal site could point readers to a download without hosting the file itself. The link was the connection between those places.
The loss of the service consequently affected material scattered across the wider web. An old discussion might remain readable while the file it referred to became unreachable, illustrating how much online content can depend on a separate storage provider.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Megaupload was a hosted storage service, not a torrent client.
- Megavideo was a separate video service associated with the same company.
The Story
- 2005 Megaupload was a file-hosting service used to store files and distribute them through links.
- 2005 The service opens during the rise of one-click file-hosting websites.
- 2012 US authorities seized the service and shut it down in January 2012 as part of a criminal copyright case. This entry records the service closure, not a conclusion about every user or file.
How It Died
US authorities seized the service and shut it down in January 2012 as part of a criminal copyright case. This entry records the service closure, not a conclusion about every user or file.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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