ICANN Domain Allocation: Queer Initiative Wants to Register .meow

The non-profit foundation dotMeow wants to launch its own generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD). The aim of the initiative is to strengthen queer visibility on the internet and contribute to the financing of queer projects, the activists write on their website. The name .meow refers to the early days of the internet when the web was still extraordinary, funny, and absurd.

From April 2026, a registration for the .meow domain must be applied for with the domain registry Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). To cover the final costs of domain registration, the non-profit organization has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter platform. The fundraising goal of 80,000 euros has already been reached.

Should the application for the .meow domain with ICANN be successful, .meow could go online in 2027. From then on, the queer-led, non-profit foundation dotMeow intends to let the majority of the revenue from each newly registered .meow domain benefit queer individuals, companies, and projects. Initially, they do not want to operate their own domain registry but rather collaborate with an established domain registrar. Later, they plan to operate their own domain registry service, the initiative writes on its website.

New ICANN gTLD application round planned for April 2026

Domain registrations are costly and generally very rarely possible. In 2012, ICANN last accepted applications for new generic top-level domains as part of its New gTLD program. At that time, the application for a gTLD cost 185,000 US dollars. Nevertheless, around fourteen years ago, almost 2,000 applications for new top-level domains were received. City names such as .berlin, .wien, or .hamburg were particularly popular in the past. To date, a total of 1438 top-level domains have been registered. This is according to a list in text format provided by ICANN.

In mid-December last year, ICANN announced a new application round for generic top-level domains. Starting April 30, 2026, the network operator will open its process for new internet addresses. This time, a comparatively high budget for applicants is again among the requirements. The evaluation fee alone is 227,000 US dollars per application.

However, new is the ICANN Applicant Support Program (ASP), which already started in November 2024. The goal of the ASP is to make the application for a new gTLD accessible to applicants who would otherwise not be able to do so due to financial resource limitations. According to the ICANN gTLD Program website, non-profit or intergovernmental organizations, indigenous groups, or small businesses from less developed economies are considered qualified applicants for the ASP. After review, they can reduce the costs of a gTLD registration by 75 to 80 percent. This means that only about 35,000 to 56,000 dollars per gTLD application remain.

.meow domain not the first queer TLD

The .meow domain would not be the first queer TLD. For example, the .gay domain was submitted as a so-called community application by the US company Dotgay LLC during the first gTLD program application round in 2012. Saudi Arabia had objected early on. In October 2014, Dotgay LLC's application was rejected by ICANN. The connection between the term .gay and the gay and lesbian community was not compelling, ICANN ruled at the time. As a result of the rejection as a community domain, .gay was to be auctioned among the four competing applicants.

In 2015, Dotgay LLC filed an objection with ICANN as part of a so-called Reconsideration Request, which was also rejected multiple times. In May 2019, the .gay domain was finally approved and the US company Top Level Design was recognized as the domain registrar after all competitors had withdrawn their bids.

.gay has since been deliberately blocked in some countries. Instead of individual domains, they block an entire TLD. .meow aims to circumvent this. The domain is a subtle sign of solidarity that only insiders would understand, writes the queer project on its website.

(rah)