Domain Registrar

A domain registrar is a company accredited by ICANN to register and manage internet domain names — the addresses like "gab.com" that route web traffic to servers. Registrars were largely invisible infrastructure until 2018, when GoDaddy and other registrars began taking action against controversial websites, including seizing domains or refusing to renew registrations. This made domain registration a new attack vector for deplatforming.

What it means

A domain name is the front door of a website. Lose the domain and the site becomes unreachable — even if all the servers and content are intact. Registrar-level deplatforming is particularly severe because it happens at the DNS layer: you can't reach the site at all, regardless of what browser or tool you use. In 2018, domain registrar GoDaddy gave a controversial forum 24 hours to find a new registrar or lose their domain — an action that set a precedent and was followed by similar moves against other sites.

How it works on Gab

Gab has directly experienced domain-level deplatforming pressure and has navigated it by working with registrars that don't engage in ideological enforcement, and by being prepared to migrate quickly if necessary. The broader lesson — that every layer of internet infrastructure is a potential deplatforming vector — shaped Gab's architecture toward maximum independence from third-party gatekeepers.

Related terms

Domain registrars sit above web hosts and CDNs in the infrastructure stack. All three have been used as deplatforming tools. Digital sovereignty means having contingency plans at each layer.