After a 14-year break, ICANN reopened the fight for new ends of Internet addresses. At stake 1615 applications from 481 applicants, including technological giants and small organizations. The list is close to the names of AI products and very unexpected words.
On October 7, the organization that coordinates the DNS domain name system revealed participants in a new round of the gTLD program. We are talking about top-level domains, that is, parts of the address after the last point, like .com or .org. Applications were accepted from April 30 to August 12, 2026. The previous round of the program started in 2012 and brought the Internet more than 1200 new domain zones.
Among the applicants are 333 applications for brand domains, 16 applications from communities and 15 for geographical names. Another 21 relate to domains on national writings, and nine provide options for writing one name. The extension does not affect the usual addresses inside .ru or .com, but the endings themselves, on which individual sites can then appear.
The struggle for names related to artificial intelligence is particularly noticeable. OpenAI has submitted 15 applications, including options for its own products, and Meta* 21. Among the proposed endings are .openai, .chatgpt, .facebook *, .agent and .agi. At the same time, applicants want to get much less business zones, such as .meow, .geek and .anime.
Getting among the candidates is not cheap. The basic fee for the consideration of one application is 227 thousand dollars, additional checks may require expenses. Payment does not guarantee victory. If several organizations claim in one name, ICANN will check the right to priority and, if necessary, hold an auction. Private trades and agreements between rivals are prohibited.
By geography, North America is leading with 864 applications. From Europe came 506, from Asia-Pacific 218, from Africa 16, from Latin America and the Caribbean 11. Another 51 applications were submitted by the participants of the financial support program. For Russian applicants, the issue of US sanctions restrictions, which has already caused controversy around the rules of the new round, remains.
The published registry has so far listed only applicants, not approved domains. From October 8 to October 21, applicants can replace the selected end with a spare if the rules allow such a replacement. On November 17, ICANN will publish the final list of proposed names, after which the period of comments and objections will last until March 16, 2027. The checks will continue later.
* Meta and its products (including Instagram, Facebook, Threads) are recognized as extremist, their activities are banned in the Russian Federation.
On October 7, the organization that coordinates the DNS domain name system revealed participants in a new round of the gTLD program. We are talking about top-level domains, that is, parts of the address after the last point, like .com or .org. Applications were accepted from April 30 to August 12, 2026. The previous round of the program started in 2012 and brought the Internet more than 1200 new domain zones.
Among the applicants are 333 applications for brand domains, 16 applications from communities and 15 for geographical names. Another 21 relate to domains on national writings, and nine provide options for writing one name. The extension does not affect the usual addresses inside .ru or .com, but the endings themselves, on which individual sites can then appear.
The struggle for names related to artificial intelligence is particularly noticeable. OpenAI has submitted 15 applications, including options for its own products, and Meta* 21. Among the proposed endings are .openai, .chatgpt, .facebook *, .agent and .agi. At the same time, applicants want to get much less business zones, such as .meow, .geek and .anime.
Getting among the candidates is not cheap. The basic fee for the consideration of one application is 227 thousand dollars, additional checks may require expenses. Payment does not guarantee victory. If several organizations claim in one name, ICANN will check the right to priority and, if necessary, hold an auction. Private trades and agreements between rivals are prohibited.
By geography, North America is leading with 864 applications. From Europe came 506, from Asia-Pacific 218, from Africa 16, from Latin America and the Caribbean 11. Another 51 applications were submitted by the participants of the financial support program. For Russian applicants, the issue of US sanctions restrictions, which has already caused controversy around the rules of the new round, remains.
The published registry has so far listed only applicants, not approved domains. From October 8 to October 21, applicants can replace the selected end with a spare if the rules allow such a replacement. On November 17, ICANN will publish the final list of proposed names, after which the period of comments and objections will last until March 16, 2027. The checks will continue later.
* Meta and its products (including Instagram, Facebook, Threads) are recognized as extremist, their activities are banned in the Russian Federation.
