If you tapped a Telegram invite link this morning and hit a dead browser tab, you weren't imagining it. Telegram's signature t.me short-link domain went dark worldwide today, breaking every t.me/username, t.me/channelname, and shared invite link that touches the open web — even though the Telegram app itself keeps running fine.
Domain watchers and security researchers spotted the outage first, noticing that t.me's WHOIS record had flipped to "serverHold." That status gets set by the .me registry itself, not by Telegram's registrar, and the distinction matters. A serverHold effectively yanks a domain's entry out of the global DNS system, so browsers everywhere lose the ability to translate t.me into a server address — no matter how healthy Telegram's own infrastructure is.
Why this isn't a typical outage
The .me extension is technically Montenegro's country-code domain, and Telegram has used it as its official shortlink brand for years under a partnership with the registry. That same registry, along with the backend operator, Identity Digital, remained silent for hours as reports piled up, offering no public explanation for the hold.
ServerHold is a status a domain registry applies directly to a domain, overriding the registrar or owner. Once active, it strips the domain's records from global DNS, so the address stops resolving anywhere on Earth, no matter how correctly the underlying servers are configured.
Registries use serverHold for legal disputes, suspected abuse, compliance orders, or billing disagreements with the registrar. Only the registry can lift it, leaving domain owners largely powerless until it's resolved.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov eventually broke the silence himself, posting directly on the registry's X account to ask why t.me links had stopped working and to request that they look into it.
Hey @domainME, https://t.co/9z6UC2o37U links stopped working. Can you look into it? 🙏
— Pavel Durov (@durov) July 14, 2026
The technical wrinkle
Because the block sits at the registry level rather than inside Telegram's own servers, there's little the company can do except wait it out or route around it. Some users have already started swapping t.me links for the backup telegram.me domain — though that address sits in the same .me zone, so it isn't necessarily immune either. The domain's registration itself remains valid for years, ruling out anything as mundane as an expired renewal.
What you should do right now
The Telegram app is unaffected, so existing chats, channels, and calls all work normally — this is purely a browser-facing link problem. If your site, email signature, or social bio uses a t.me link, swap it for an in-app deep link or the Telegram.me alternative until the registry lifts the hold. Avoid re-registering or "fixing" links through third-party shorteners, since the outage is on the registry's end, not yours.