Uploaded.to Blocks US Visitors After MegaUpload Shutdown
Uploaded.to, one of the most popular file-hosting sites in the Internet, has closed its doors to US visitors. The move is most likely a response to the FBI crackdown on MegaUpload two days ago. US visitors of Uploaded.to currently get the following message.
Context & Ripple Effects
Two days after the FBI shut down MegaUpload in its New Jersey-led crackdown, Uploaded.to has become the first major cyberlocker to respond defensively: US visitors now hit a block page instead of the service. The move follows the same logic that made MegaUpload the target — a file-hosting business whose user base includes large numbers of American downloaders is exposed to US enforcement no matter where it is incorporated.
First-order effects
- US visitors immediately lose access to one of the most popular file-hosting sites, cutting off paid and free accounts alike at the border.
- Uploaded.to removes itself, by geography rather than litigation, from the reach of the enforcement action that took down MegaUpload.
Second-order effects
- Rival cyberlockers face the same calculus and must choose between blocking US traffic, tightening takedown practices, or accepting MegaUpload-style exposure.
- Traffic and premium subscriptions shift toward hosts that keep serving US users, redistributing market share across the file-locker landscape.
Third-order effects
- If blocking becomes the standard response, file hosting fragments along jurisdictional lines, with US users walled off from services that remain open elsewhere.
- The pattern points toward voluntary compliance-by-withdrawal replacing courtroom defense as the default strategy for offshore storage businesses facing US copyright enforcement.
The trend: In the wake of the MegaUpload raid, offshore cyberlockers are preemptively retreating from US users rather than testing their legal exposure in court.