Telegram’s t.me domain vanishes overnight, Durov cries for help on X

T.me, Telegram’s official short-link domain, went dark overnight, leaving users unable to share links or access some services. The domain was suspended by the registry without explanation, which is the highest authority over Montenegro’s .me top-level domain.

The t.me domain was placed on serverHold status on July 13th, 7:24:55 p.m. UTC, and remains unavailable for hours. This means that no DNS server can correctly resolve the requests, leaving the domain off the internet’s map.

This domain is deeply integrated with Telegram and used to share usernames, public channels, groups, bots, invite links, as well as its cryptocurrency (TON) wallets, mini apps, and more. This domain acts as a gateway for many people to discover or join things on the social platform.

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, seemingly unable to resolve the problems, shared a cry for help on X, addressing the registry directly.

“Hey @domainME, http://t.me links stopped working. Can you look into it?” the post reads.

The .me is a top-level domain for Montenegro, but is liked by many international brands, blogs, and other users. There were no known restrictions to register the domains.

The hold on t.me was set by the registry itself, which is doMEn d.o.o. (domain.me). According to GoDaddy, which is the registrar for t.me, the .me backend is operated by Identity Digital, the company in Washington that manages the “World’s largest portfolio of new top-level domains.”

Cybernews has reached out to all of them and will update this story with a response – no official explanation has been released.

Additional WHOIS lookup data reveals that the domain appears to be correctly configured. It is valid until 2035, ruling out expiration, while nameservers are set to Google Cloud DNS.

At the time of writing, the domain status remains “serverHold.”

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Telegram’s core messaging app and functionality, like chats and calls, are unaffected by the downtime.

Some users on X noted that the domain was blocked on the same day the US Treasury (OFAC) sanctioned a rogue VPN service that used Telegram’s subdomain as its website (t.me/FirstVPNService). They speculate that the whole domain might have been banned by mistake.

While the t.me is down, the link can still be accessed using domain substitution – replacing the ”t.me” part in a link with “telegram.m,” i.e., using telegram.me/durov instead of t.me/durov.

Update: the suspension was related to the US sanctions targeting 1VPNS

The .me registry later issued a statement saying the t.me domain suspension had been lifted. It confirmed that the action was related to the US sanctions.

“On 13 July, First VPN Service (1VPNS) was included as a sanctioned entity by the US Department of the Treasury. A Telegram channel using the http://t.me domain was among 1VPNS identified infrastructure. Accordingly, the http://t.me domain was suspended,” the registry explained.

“On 14 July, Telegram provided confirmation that it had removed its links and affiliations with 1VPNS. Once the confirmation was reviewed and verified, the suspension was removed from the http://t.me domain.”

The registry also said it works closely with law enforcement to monitor and mitigate issues across the .me domain.

Telegram turned the incident into a PR stunt, announcing that they created another domain t.you in addition to t.me. Currently, the t.you is redirecting to Telegram’s post on X, which has attracted over half a million impressions.

so https://t.co/puX9PkX2HZ links are fixed, if you still can't use them that's a https://t.co/gFRqdIh7EJ problem pic.twitter.com/ZhKeCuzj1H

undefined Telegram Messenger (@telegram) July 14, 2026

“I’ve just bought http://t.you (in addition to http://t.me) so it becomes a “we” problem,” Durov also posted on X.

Updated on July 15th [07:20 a.m. GMT] with a statement from the .me domain registry and additional information.