Telegram’s vital shortlink domain, t.me, went back online on Tuesday following a day-long global outage triggered by Montenegro-based registry DomainME to comply with sudden US Treasury sanctions.
The sudden disappearance of t.me
The unexpected disruption began on Monday, rendering the messaging app’s primary shortlink service completely inaccessible. The outage was first highlighted by Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who confirmed in an X post that t.me links had “stopped working” globally.
This technical failure prevented millions of users from utilizing the t.me domain, which functions as a critical gateway for sharing one-click invitations to join public groups and channels within the platform.
Why the domain went offline
The domain has now been fully restored, according to DomainME, the Montenegro-based registry responsible for managing the .me top-level domain database.
“The t.me domain is back online. We will be issuing an official statement shortly,” Predrag Lešić, chief executive of DomainME, confirmed in an email statement.
Addressing the situation publicly, DomainME posted an update on X explaining that the t.me domain had been placed “on hold due to the OFAC compliance, but it is back online now.” OFAC, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, is responsible for administering and enforcing economic sanctions against foreign entities deemed a threat to US national security.
The “serverhold” status explained
Internet records show that the t.me domain was subjected to a “serverhold” status during the outage. This specific status code typically means that a domain registrar has suspended the domain, effectively removing it from the global Domain Name System (DNS). Registry records indicate this hold was officially lifted early on Tuesday morning.
The US sanctions connection
Security analyst Jonah Aragon pointed out that the suspension coincided directly with the U.S. Treasury imposing sanctions on “First VPN” on Monday. US authorities, who seized and shut down the VPN provider’s website earlier this year, allege the service was actively used by cybercriminals to facilitate ransomware campaigns.
The official sanctions listing published by the US Treasury for First VPN included the specific Telegram address of the VPN provider’s public channel, utilising the shortened t.me format.
Collateral damage and compliance fears
Rather than blocking only the specific URL associated with the sanctioned entity, the domain registry appears to have suspended the entire t.me root domain to ensure strict compliance with US federal regulations.
Firms operating under US jurisdiction, including domain registries and registrars, face severe financial penalties and legal action if they fail to comply with active OFAC sanctions.
Notably, another domain operated by the messaging service, telegram.me, was not included in the Treasury’s documentation and remained fully operational throughout the incident. Telegram has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the disruption.