From tiny atolls to digital dominance: the .tk story
- 9 days ago
- 5 min read
Tokelau is a remote island in the pacific. You can reach there only by a ferry that runs every 14 days. But it is the third most-visited island. How so?
The birth and evolution of .tk
In 2000, Joost Zuurbier, a Dutch citizen from Amsterdam, visited an island that you can only reach by first flying to Samoa, then boarding a ferry that runs only every two weeks with a variable schedule. The island Tokelau is a remote group of atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. Tokelau was home to just over 1,600 people in 2019, and back in 2000 there were those who had a difficult time grasping what Joost was trying to do. Most could never imagine the future of their nation’s country code top-level domain (ccTLD)—not even the man himself.
Zuurbier’s vision was to identify an unused ccTLD and make it freely available. He discovered that Tokelau’s ccTLD, .tk, was unclaimed and inactive. However, launching and expanding .tk came with three significant challenges. First, he needed to communicate his plan to the people of Tokelau and gain their approval. Second, navigating the bureaucratic process posed another obstacle—he had to secure official approval and delegation of the ccTLD from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Lastly, due to a requirement from IANA that the servers needed to be built on the island, all the equipment had to be taken to one of the remotest islands in the world. At the time, Tokelau had only three computers for 1,500 people, with only a 9,600 bits per second (bps) connection for e-mail with no attachments. For reference, one million bits make up one megabit (mb), and a good modern download speed is 100mbps.
Fortunately, the final challenge was resolved with the help of an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) employee who had visited Tokelau in the 1970s. Understanding that hosting global servers from the island was impractical, the employee recognized that some level of internet activity was still necessary for Tokelau to claim administrative control over its ccTLD. This meant that before anything else, Zuurbier had to introduce internet connectivity to the island.
Once this requirement was met, Zuurbier and the islanders reached an agreement on how the revenue from the ccTLD would be used. With their case prepared, they presented it to IANA. As a result, both initial challenges were also overcome, and IANA officially delegated .tk to Teletok, the company overseeing Tokelau’s telecommunications from 1997 onward, while Taloha, Zuurbier’s organization, managed the technical administration of the domain.
Because .tk domain registrations were free, the extension quickly gained popularity and became one of the most widely registered country code domains, surpassing 25 million registrations. However, the free model also drew the attention of cybercriminals. With the ability to create websites anonymously and in large numbers, scammers exploited .tk domains for various malicious activities, including phishing for passwords and payment details, hosting intrusive pop-up ads, and distributing malware.
The current state of .tk
Until recently, domain registrations for the .tk ccTLD were managed by OpenTLD B.V., part of Freenom, a registry that manages several freely available TLDs. In November 2023, ICANN terminated OpenTLD's accreditation due to multiple breaches of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). Despite this termination, the registration and maintenance of .tk domains remains under Freenom. As a ccTLD, .tk primarily operates under the authority of Tokelau and is not governed by ICANN's RAA.
Given the controversial recent history of the .tk ccTLD, we were curious to look at the domains currently active online. In our database, we detect a total of 6.3 million .tk domains, which includes domains that are no longer active but were at some point within the past twelve years. However, as of January 2025, only 8,862 of those are currently active, 2,430 are redirects, and another 18,231 do not allow crawling. Of the redirects, 53.5% redirect to a .com domain, 10% to another .tk domain and 6.8% redirect to .cf (ccTLD of the Central African Republic).
Among the active domains, just over a third can be traced to Ireland, followed by the Netherlands, and then the US (Figure 3). In terms of security, over 50% have no or an invalid SSL certificate, as shown in Figure 4.
The rise of the .tk domain was a remarkable story of growth, driven by its unique offering of free registrations that attracted millions of users. At its peak, .tk became one of the most registered country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) in the world. However, its rapid growth came with a dark side, creating a haven for malicious actors who exploited its anonymity and accessibility. The association with online fraud damaged its reputation, and as a result, it became known for its role in hosting dubious websites. Despite efforts to mitigate abuse, the damage was done, and .tk's image has never fully recovered.
Digital colonialism and the future of .tk
The rise and fall of the .tk domain also highlights the broader issue of digital colonialism. Tokelau, a small, remote territory in the Pacific, found itself at the center of a global internet phenomenon. While Tokelau's local population had limited internet infrastructure, the income generated from .tk registrations—millions of dollars, some years—provided vital financial support to the territory. This arrangement, however, raised ethical concerns about digital colonialism, as a foreign entity (Freenom) controlled the domain's registration process and its profits. The revenue, which was meant to benefit Tokelau, was regularly diverted through intermediaries, leaving the island with limited direct control over the wealth generated by its ccTLD.
With the uncertain future of .tk, Tokelau faces potential financial ramifications. If the domain's usage continues to decline or becomes further restricted, it could impact the income the territory has relied on. Although the digital space has provided an economic lifeline, the loss of .tk’s popularity also exposes Tokelau to the realities of digital dependency. The implications go beyond simple financial loss; they reflect the challenges small nations face in navigating the complexities of the digital age and how they manage valuable assets like ccTLDs, which can be both a source of income and a symbol of sovereignty.
Today, while .tk domains can still be registered through Freenom, the landscape is uncertain. Despite the possibility of registration, the reality is that most domain names appear unavailable, and new registrations have effectively stagnated since October 2024. No new registrar has been announced, and the lack of clarity about the future of .tk raises more questions than answers. It’s clear that while .tk still exists, its glory days may well be behind it. What remains is a small, largely insecure domain extension that continues to attract a few unsavory characters, but for most legitimate users, it’s a relic of the past. The future of .tk remains up in the air, and its tarnished reputation means that it will likely never regain its former prominence in the world of domain registrations.
