A Trump-affiliated company has applied to operate the .trump top-level domain in ICANN's 2026 expansion round, seeking a dedicated Internet namespace for Trump-branded businesses rather than public domain registrations.
ICANN's 2026 application records show OpenAI and Meta seeking brand and AI-related extensions, while registry operators file larger portfolios. Thirteen applicants want .agent; the proposed strings still face evaluation and possible changes.
ICANN has disclosed 1,615 active applications from 481 applicants for its 2026 new gTLD round, revealing competing bids, regional participation and an outstanding application still undergoing administrative review.
ICANN researchers identified associated domains for 56.4% of malicious registrations studied, introducing a public-data detection method that could inform DNS abuse investigations and proposed registrar obligations.
ICANN added second-level internationalized domain name rules for Javanese and Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics and updated seven existing rules, expanding reference material registries can use to define valid labels and variants.
ICANN will publish applicants, proposed strings and initial contention sets for the 2026 new gTLD round on October 7, followed by a replacement-string period and final string confirmation on November 17.
ICANN reports African DNSSEC validation has reached 53%, with Ghana near 98% and Nigeria around 60%, as independent APNIC measurements broadly support the country figures ahead of October's root key rollover.
ICANN reports 151 internationalized top-level domains and 4.3 million second-level registrations, but persistent Universal Acceptance gaps still prevent some applications, websites and email systems from reliably handling internationalized names.
ICANN says 1,616 applications will proceed in the 2026 new gTLD round, with Reveal Day expected by October 14 to disclose applicants, requested strings and initial contention sets.
ICANN commenters broadly support proposed registrar checks of domains associated with known DNS abuse but urge evidentiary safeguards to prevent weak associations from triggering action against legitimate domains.
ICANN is closing consultation on technical rules for linking gTLDs with matching alternative naming systems, as commenters debate controller requirements, security safeguards, policy boundaries and protections for existing registrations.
ICANN's new Universal Acceptance guidelines target persistent interoperability gaps that prevent internationalized domain names and email addresses from working reliably across browsers, identity systems, applications and other Internet infrastructure.
Analysys Mason will run geographic and reserved-name reviews for ICANN's 2026 new-gTLD round, applying rules that can determine whether proposed strings advance, require government support, qualify for exceptions, or face further evaluation.
ICANN has terminated two registrar accreditation agreements after unresolved compliance failures, citing Trustname's handling of DNS abuse and IPIP's failures involving RDAP, registration data escrow, accreditation fees, and access to non-public registration data.
ICANN's updated DNS-abuse data distinguishes allegations from actionable complaints and malicious registrations from compromised domains, offering a clearer test of whether tougher contractual requirements are strengthening enforcement or simply generating a larger volume of reports.