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YTS.mx, one of the most popular torrent sites, has lost control over its domain name which is no longer being resolved. Domain registrar Gandi put the domain in 'clientHold', a status code that is generally reserved for legal or administrative purposes. The YTS status page still lists the Mexican TLD as the home of the site, but unless the issues are resolved, this is likely to change.
With millions of visitors, YTS is one of the most visited torrent sites on the Internet, even rivaling the legendary Pirate Bay.
The site 'unofficially' took over the YTS brand when the original group threw in the towel in 2015. Since then, it has amassed a pretty impressive user base.
Legal issues
This meteoric rise has not been without its problems. The site's parent company, Techmodo Limited, and its operator have been the subject of several lawsuits and previously agreed to pay more than one million dollars in liquidations. In addition, YTS has also had several problems with domain names.
When the site first came on the scene, it was operating from the domain name YTS.ag, which changed to YTS.am two years later. In 2019, the torrent site moved once again to a new domain, YTS.lt, which was later changed to YTS.mx.
The Mexican ccTLD has served the site for over a year, but today it suddenly became unreachable. Users attempting to visit the site will see an error in the browser, indicating that there is no A record defined, making it impossible to resolve the domain.
YTS.mx on ClientHold
This problem can appear in a wide variety of cases, but in this case it followed an intervention by the domain registrar. Gandi. A few hours ago, the French company changed the status of the domain YTS.mx to clientHold, which is a punitive measure.
In the past, the clientHold status has been used to suspend pirated sites after complaints from copyright holders. It is unknown if that is the case here as the registrar did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Gandi lists a Domain "expired" as the most common reason, but clearly that's not the case here. According to to ICANN, the clientHold status "is generally enacted during legal disputes, non-payment" or when a "domain is subject to deletion".
Related to piracy?
Of all these reasons, a legal dispute will most likely occur. This does not necessarily have to be related to copyright. It's also possible that a third party has complained about the accuracy of the Whois records, for example.
Regular readers may also recall that various YTS-related sites were sued in the past due to trademark disputes. The YTS trademark was officially registered by the Hawaiian company 42 Ventures last year, and the company actively enforce your rights. However, the company informs TorrentFreak that it did not complain to Gandi.
At this point, it is unclear if the YTS.mx domain will be available again in the future. According to the YTS Status Page it is still the official domain, but that may change in the near future.
