A suspension at the .me registry level

On July 14, 2026, the domain t.me — Telegram's primary URL shortener used for invite links, public channels, profiles, and bots — was placed in serverHold status by the .me top-level domain registry, managed by the operator Identity Digital. This status, which is solely at the discretion of the registry and not the registrar or domain owner, resulted in t.me being removed from the global DNS zone, rendering all dependent links inaccessible across the Internet.

WHOIS records confirm that the domain now bears eight status flags, including serverHold, clientDeleteProhibited, and serverDeleteProhibited, with a last updated timestamp of July 13, 2026, at 19:24:55 UTC. The domain, registered via GoDaddy.com, LLC, was created on May 20, 2010, and does not expire until 2035 — which rules out a simple oversight in renewal.

What is behind this suspension?

The serverHold status is an EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) code reserved for registry-level actions, such as fraud investigations, security concerns, legal disputes, or abuse reports. It supersedes any parameters set by the registrar or DNS provider.

According to several reports circulating on social media, the suspension is said to be related to OFAC compliance requirements (Office of Foreign Assets Control), the U.S. agency responsible for enforcing economic sanctions. However, neither Identity Digital nor Telegram has issued an official statement confirming this information at the time of writing this article.

The absence of clientHold status codes or those related to a transfer suggests that the action indeed stems from the registry side and not Telegram's registrar account.

Telegram's response and workaround

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, posted a message on X (formerly Twitter) directly mentioning the .me registry:

“Hey @domainME, https://t.me links stopped working. Can you look into it? 🙏”

In light of the unavailability, Telegram quickly redirected its users to the alternative domain telegram.me, thereby allowing link generation and navigation to resume within the app. New links continued to function while t.me remained offline.

Limited impact on the app but massive online

It's important to note that the Telegram app itself remained operational throughout the incident. The disruptions were isolated to the t.me domain and its short links — that is, invite links, channel previews, and shared message URLs. Telegram's primary messaging infrastructure, which relies on its primary domains and IP-based connections, was unaffected.

However, given that Telegram has hundreds of millions of active users and that t.me serves as its default URL shortener, the impact on the web has been significant: countless links shared on forums, websites, and social media suddenly became inaccessible.

A return to normalcy under conditions

The lifting of a serverHold status typically requires the domain holder or their registrar to resolve the underlying issue that led to the registry's suspension. According to industry precedents, this process can take anywhere from a few hours to several days depending on the nature of the issue.

Users encountering broken t.me links are advised to temporarily replace t.me with telegram.me in their URLs until the normal DNS resolution of the original domain is restored.

Lessons learned

This incident illustrates a reality often overlooked: even the most powerful platforms rely on layers of infrastructure — in this case, the DNS system and domain registries — that they do not fully control. A decision made by a third-party actor, whether a registry or a regulatory authority, can instantly paralyze a critical functionality for hundreds of millions of users.

It also raises questions about the concentration of power in the hands of TLD operators and government agencies like OFAC, capable of unilaterally acting on domains essential to global communication.