Introduced | 7 November 1997 |
---|---|
TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
Status | Active |
Registry | Dot TK (run by BV Dot TK) |
Sponsor | Government of Tokelau and Teletok |
Intended use | Entities connected with Tokelau |
Actual use | Sees some use, mostly not in Tokelau |
Registration restrictions | Yes, for free domains only |
Structure | Registrations are taken directly at the second level; domains are redirected to actual website addresses within a frame, or point directly to a webserver or nameserver. |
Documents | Registration Agreement (free domains) Registration Agreement (paid domains) |
Dispute policies | UDRP (paid domains only) |
Registry website | Dot.TK |
.tk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific.
The .tk TLD is managed by Teletok, a local telecommunications company who outsourced the domain registry operation to a Dutch company Freenom, who was additionally also acting as a registrar. As Freenom offered free registration, the .tk ending was often associated with malicious activities like phishing, spam and cybersquatting. In 2023, Freenom stopped offering new .tk registrations in their registrar business as a result of a lawsuit with Meta. Their registry operations for other registrars were not affected by this. Freenom announced it would exit the domain registry and registrar business in February 2024.
Teletok opened negotiations with the domain registry operator of .nz, for help in managing .tk after Freenom's exit.[1]