Torrents are extremely efficient at distributing huge amounts of data very quickly. They function as a web/matrix. Everyone that is downloading the data is also seeding the data(uploading it). Thus if you have something huge and you want it to be distributed very quickly and also for it to be completely impossible for the authorities to stop it from being downloaded a torrent is the absolute best way to do it.

There is a reason why torrents are the go to method of pirating applications, games, video, and audio online. They don't rely on a central server that can be shut off or taken over. Because its distributed over sometimes hundreds of machines sitting on private DSL lines and cable modems they have no way to stop it without shutting down literally the entire internet. When you add in VPNs it just makes it more impossible to stop.

Plenty of GNU software offer torrent downloads like Linux and FreeBSD etc as well. For anything larger than a few gigs in size a torrent is the only way they will be able to distribute it. Any server you put it on with enough bandwidth for thousands of people to DL something that big quickly is most likely owned by a big tech firm(IE Amazon/Google) and will be quickly shut off well before everyone has downloaded the whole thing.