.gq
 | |
| Introduced | 10 July 1997 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | GETESA |
| Sponsor | GETESA |
| Intended use | Entities connected with  Equatorial Guinea |
| Actual use | Sees relatively rare use, mostly not in Equatorial Guinea. |
| Registration restrictions | Free domains available with some restrictions; paid registrations for legal ownership have no activity requirement |
| Documents | Registration Agreement (free domains) Registration Agreement (paid domains) |
| Dispute policies | UDRP (paid domains only) |
| Registry website | www |
.gq is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Equatorial Guinea. Freenom relaunched the TLD on October 1, 2014, and domains became available for free on January 1, 2015.[1][2] Following Freenom's lawsuit with Meta and its settlement in 2024,[3] it is unclear who will take up registration of the domain, as the company announced it would be exiting the domain business.
The .gq registry allows the creation of emoji domain names.
History
[edit]The .gq domain was launched in July 1997 by GETESA, the nation's prominent internet service provider.[4]
In October 2014, domain company Freenom partnered with GETESA to try a business model which involved giving away .gq domain names for free. Before the public launch, there was a sunrise period to allow trademark holders to register their names. Public domain registration commenced on January 1, 2015.[5]
Abuse
[edit]Due to the lack of cost required to obtain a .gq domain, the TLD has been prone to usage for spam, phishing and other malicious purposes. A study conducted by internet security company Symantec found that 92% of the top 50 .gq websites were being used for "shady" purposes. Out of all of the websites on a .gq domain that were surveyed by Symantec, a whole 98.94% were being used for malicious purposes.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "FREENOM RELAUNCHES THE NATIONAL TOP LEVEL DOMAIN OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA" (PDF). October 1, 2014.
- ^ "REGISTRATION OF A DOMAIN". December 11, 2014.
- ^ "freenom Press Statement" (PDF). www.freenom.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-02-28. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ "IANA — .gq Domain Delegation Data". www.iana.org. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
- ^ Freenom. "Freenom Relaunches The National Top Level Domain Of Equatorial Guinea". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2018-11-15.
- ^ "Shady TLDs: .GQ Not Looking So Dapper". Symantec Security Response. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
External links
[edit]
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