The Pirate Bay has taken the number 1 spot in torrent downloads since Kickass Torrents (KAT) was shut down. Meanwhile, torrent sites will now be banned in Australia.

In July 2016, Reuters reported that the owner and runner of Kickass Torrents, 30-year-old Artem Vaulin, was indicted in the United States for copyright infringement. Vaulin is tied to the distribution of films, video games, music, and other content of more than $1 billion worth.

Since then, torrent sites run by Vaulin, such as KickAssTorrents, Torrentz, and TorrentHound ,have been shut down. However, reports say the team behind KickassTorrents is now back in running these sites.

Unfortunately, since its shutdown from the web, The Pirate Bay has been the most popular torrent site. Even when domains under the KickassTorrents returned, The Pirate Bay only grew in clicks.

Although KickassTorrents and its domains build on regaining their massive number of visitors, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that all torrent sites will now be blocked in Australia.

The Federal Court in Australia handed down the verdict that internet providers must "take reasonable steps to disable access" to torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and SolarMovie.

The verdict includes that all rights holder will have to pay internet providers in blocking these torrent sites of up to $50 per site. Village Roadshow and Foxtel will also pay for legal costs involved internet service providers blocking torrent sites.

Foxtel chief executive Peter Tonagh shared that piracy resulting from torrent sites greatly damages the creative industries in Australia.

"This judgment is a major step in both directly combating piracy and educating the public that accessing content through these sites is not OK, in fact it is theft," Tonagh added.

Tonagh added that they are also contributing in eliminating piracy by making content more available.

"We are playing our part to reduce the attractiveness of piracy by making content available in a timely manner, at different price points, and on multiple devices and. More broadly, the content creation industries will continue to educate the public on the harm piracy does and how to get access to content in a legitimate manner," explained Tonagh.