Google keeps .meet to itself

Schedule meetings through your own .meet domain name? Bump into the partner of your dreams online through a .meet site? Unfortunately, Google Registry puts a stop to this.

Google Registry (the registry that amongst others manages .app, .page and .dev) decided to not make the .meet extension available to the general public. It’s also remarkable that ICANN (the umbrella organization for all gTLDs) has followed them in this. In principle, a generic extension should allow everyone to register a name under this domain. Google was exempted from this requirement by ICANN. Quite a controversial decision.

Of course, Google itself manages Google Meet, an online platform for video chatting. Google decided to use the .meet domain, among other things, to further offer these services. The fact that competitor Zoom is booming in these Corona times will undoubtedly also play a role in this.

The .meet extension was originally owned by Afilias, the registry that manages .info, among others. Afilias thought this extension would be perfect for dating sites. In 2015, Google Registry took over this domain from Afilias.