Telegram’s short link domain is back online after being suspended for a full day

The band used by the messaging app Telegram was mysteriously cut off on Monday, as the app’s founder, Pavel Durov, said in… Share X Which t.me Links have “stopped working”.

The outage prevented users from accessing t.me Domain short link, used by the messaging app to allow users to share links with one click to join public groups.

The domain is now back online, according to Montenegro-based domain registrar DomainME, which manages the domain .me Top level domain.

“the t.me The domain is back online again. “We will issue an official statement soon,” DomainME CEO Predrag Lecic said in an email to TechCrunch.

In a post on X in response to Durov, DomainME He said That’s a telegram t.me The domain was “on hold due to OFAC compliance, but is now back online.” OFAC refers to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which imposes economic sanctions on foreign companies and individuals who pose a risk to the national economic security of the United States.

cable t.me The domain went offline after a “server” block was placed on the domain. “server contract” I mean usually The domain registrar has locked the domain for some reason, which causes the domain to go offline. The server hold was lifted early Tuesday, according to the site’s public internet logs.

As the technician pointed out Yona AragonThe domain was suspended the same day this happened The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions On a VPN service provider called First VPN, which authorities said cybercriminals used to launch ransomware attacks. American authorities The site closed earlier this year.

Treasury List of sanctions The copy for First VPN, published on Monday, contains a link to the full web address of the VPN provider’s public group on Telegram using the shortcut t.me specialization.

It’s possible that your domain registrar has suspended Telegram entirely t.me scope to comply with the new sanctions, rather than restricting the specific web address that links to the Telegram group on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list.

US companies, including domain registrars, that do not comply with US sanctions laws could face hefty fines.

Another domain used by Telegram, telegram.meHe was not included in the sanctions file and was working at the time of writing.

A Telegram spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.