Telegram Is Still Working on Restoring the t.me Domain

UPD July 14, 13:00 UTC: The domain was restored.

The t.me domain is still down for users worldwide, as it was disabled by the administration of the .me domain zone. The messenger's team has not commented on the matter.

As a temporary measure, users are advised to replace t.me links with telegram.me or telegram.dog — the messenger's official domains.

The @tginfo editors note that Instagram* blocks links to telegram.me in profiles, but links to telegram.dog work. Some users report that Instagram* bans users from using the “link in bio” feature if the domain is changed, so the best course of action is to wait for the t.me domain to be restored.

Shortly after the news about the domain being disabled, Telegram began replacing t.me links in Telegram apps and on the official telegram.org website. Pavel Durov attempted to contact the .me registry administration via their official Twitter account.

Possible reason for the block

The .me zone belongs to Montenegro, and the infrastructure is managed by a joint venture of Identity Digital, GoDaddy, and the local company ME-net.

The owner of the TeleLakel channel received a response from Identity Digital's support team, which claims that the domain was disabled due to the “need to comply with OFAC-related requirements”.

OFAC is a division of the US Department of the Treasury that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions.

OFAC has not added Telegram to its sanctions lists. However, an action statement dated July 13, 2026, regarding newly sanctioned companies mentions a service called "FIRST VPN SERVICE". Users noticed that one of the links to its website is a Telegram channel address on the t.me domain.

This could mean that the .me domain operator saw the t.me domain in the sanctions lists and quickly blocked it without further research.

The @tginfo team noticed that this morning the messenger deleted the Telegram channel that was mentioned in this sanctions list. It is unknown whether this channel was actually the reason for the block, or if Telegram did this on their own as a precaution.

A popular rumor about the reason for the block

A version is spreading in the community that the t.me domain was revoked because the official Telegram Twitter account joked about the September 11th terrorist attack.

The @tginfo editors consider this version unlikely: if it were true, the .me domain zone administration would likely have blocked all Telegram domains, including telegram.me. Furthermore, the published image was not a joke invented by the company itself, but one of the most popular entries submitted by users as part of a contest.

#outages #bans