Namecheap bans registration of COVID-19 related domain names

Namecheap blocks registration of ‘vaccine,’ ‘coronavirus,’ and ‘covid’ domain names in an attempt to fight fraud on the web amid coronavirus pandemic. The company’s CEO said in an email to customers,

“There are always those who try to take advantage of crisis situations by carrying out acts of fraud. In response, we are actively working with authorities to both proactively prevent, and takedown, any fraudulent or abusive domains or websites related to COVID19. This includes banning certain terms such as “coronavirus,” “covid,” and “vaccine” from our domain search tool so they cannot be purchased and used for abuse.”

Furthermore, if any company or a website owner wants to use a domain name with these key terms for a legitimate purpose, they will have to contact the support team to get their domain names registered. The support team will manually review and approve their request.

“If you have a legitimate use for a domain containing one of these terms, our support team will be available to review and register it for you manually upon your request.”

Since coronavirus pandemic, online abuse has become a norm around the world. Frauds and spams related to covid-19 are abusing the internet by selling fake vaccines. Social media giants and search companies are already fighting misinformation and fake news by rolling out fact-checkers on their platforms.

Namecheap is also closing all its offices indefinitely, and employees are working from home. The email also says that the company will help its customers in terms of payments during this tough financial situation that has been created as a result of COVID-19. Customers can open a support ticket and ask for help. CEO Namecheap, Richard Kirkendall said,

“I urge you not to abuse this offer, please allow it to be used by those who need it most, who are otherwise unable to pay. For transparency, we will be able to help more on products we own end to end, such as our hosted products. Domains are a much tougher proposition, since we have registries that we need to pay upfront to extend domain names.”

Coronavirus is spreading across the globe, with hundreds of thousands infected. Countries are implementing lockdowns and curfews, companies are shutting down or implementing work from home policies, and people are forced to stay in their homes. Social distancing is the only solution. For more info, you can visit the WHO (World Health Organization) website, and for live stats, you can visit our coronavirus live updates page.