On the evening of July 13, the t.me domain used by Telegram for short links stopped opening worldwide. The outlet Kod Durova reported that the disruption was connected to restrictions imposed by the operator of the .me domain zone, the Montenegrin company doMEn.
During the outage, Telegram began generating internal links through the alternative address telegram.me. That domain continued to work even though it is also in the .me zone and managed by the same operator.
According to the report, doMEn assigned the t.me address the serverHold status. This means the domain is removed from the global DNS system and effectively stops resolving online.
No official reason for the decision has been announced. Kod Durova noted that such a status may be applied because of a legal dispute, an internal review, requests from law enforcement, violations of registry rules, or a technical error.
The author of the teleLakel channel suggested that the suspension may have been linked to U.S. sanctions. According to him, operator Identity Digital said in a response that the block was connected to requirements from OFAC, the U.S. Treasury unit responsible for sanctions enforcement.
The report also says that a Telegram short link appears in a sanctions listing involving one VPN service — t.me/FirstVPNService. Telegram founder Pavel Durov addressed doMEn on X, asking the company to look into what happened to the t.me link.
The Russian-language Montenegro channel Volna added that a prompt reply from the operator may not come today: July 13 and 14 are Statehood Day holidays in Montenegro, and both are official non-working days.