Volatility in Social Platforms Leads to Surge in .Social Domains Premium .social registrations are up 485% MoM in Nov MTD vs. October BELLEVUE, WA – December 6, 2022 – Shortly after Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, the social media platform lost more than 1.3 million users,[1] and around the same time .social domain registrations surged, per data from Identity Digital,™ a leader in connecting the online world with domain names and related technologies. For example, in the first two weeks of November, month-over-month (MoM) .social top-level domain (TLD) registrations were up 435%. “Volatility in social platforms that people rely on leads users to take action to own their digital identity and content, which often starts with finding a domain name,” said Akram J. Atallah, CEO of Identity Digital. “One platform capitalizing on the Twitter shakeup is Mastodon.social, a distributed social media alternative that boasts, “Social networking that’s not for sale.” In a Nov. 8 post, Founder Eugen Rochko said the social network gained 489,000 users in less than two weeks, boosting its membership to over one million active monthly users. With the growing popularity of Mastodon, Identity Digital has also seen a 5.8x MoM (October to November) increase in high-value keyword .social names being snatched up, including arts.social, lol.social and justice.social. Many of these domains point to Mastodon profiles/instances. This surge indicates users are recognizing the ability to brand themselves on social media with these memorable descriptive domain names leveraging both sides of the dot to show who they are and what they do. Instead of creating a single unified platform, Mastodon allows anyone to use open-source software to boot up a server that hosts a Twitter-like community with its own rules. Together those servers form a collective of interlinked communities dubbed the “Fediverse.” Users can join a server that matches their interests and community standards, connect with others on different servers, or block all content from a particular server completely. “Social media users understand that big tech doesn’t work without them,” said Atallah. “They are making a stand to own their content and build digital identities resistant to platform volatility and leveraging descriptive domains like .social to do so.” About Identity Digital Identity Digital Inc. simplifies and connects the online world with domain names and related technologies to empower people to build, market, and own their authentic digital identities. With the world’s largest portfolio of nearly 300 TLDs, such as .live, .technology, and .restaurant, Identity Digital operates around 25 million domains on its innovative registry services platform. In addition, it enables customers to discover, register, support and use high-quality domain names with its registrar, Name.com. Headquartered in Bellevue, WA, Identity Digital is a global company with approximately 250 employees.

Identity Digital Releases Its First DNS Anti-Abuse Report The quarterly report, made possible by its Dynamic Defense™ service, demonstrates significant progress in mitigating domain abuse among its top-level domains (TLDs). BELLEVUE, WA – November 30, 2022 – To promote awareness among registrars, trusted notifiers, and end users, Identity Digital™, a leader in connecting the online world with domain names and related technologies, very recently published its first (Q2) Anti-Abuse Report. The report shares data and statistics on DNS abuse within the registry operator’s TLD portfolio. The second (Q3) Anti-Abuse Report is slated to come out shortly as well.  The Anti-Abuse Report found that nearly 93% of the abuse cases identified in Q2 2022 involved phishing attacks, including homograph attacks, where bad actors register domains using visually similar characters to legitimate websites for nefarious purposes. Identity Digital automatically blocks homographic domain names, ensuring none of their variations can be registered. “We’re proud to publish our first Anti-Abuse Report that raises awareness on a wide range of DNS attacks and demonstrates significant progress in mitigating domain abuse within our TLD ecosystem,” says Akram Atallah, CEO of Identity Digital. “While overall quite rare, in cases of clear domain abuse, we aim to intervene as quickly as possible. Most of the harm is done in the first eight hours, so taking swift action is important. As a result of the Dynamic Defense initiative, we observe  55% mitigation of identified reports, within 24 hours of a report, which is five times faster than the 96 hours industry standard.” The Identity Digital Dynamic Defense™ (DND) team has decades of experience dealing with DNS abuse, drafted industry-standard security frameworks, and are on the front lines of the fight against DNS abuse. Identity Digital acts upon specific, credible notices on serious abuse cases, including child sexual abuse materials, illegal online distribution of opioids, human trafficking, and specific and credible incitements to violence. About Identity Digital Identity Digital Inc. simplifies and connects the online world with domain names and related technologies to empower people to build, market, and own their authentic digital identities. The company is a member of the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). It’s also represented in US InfraGard, a partnership between the FBI and the private sector dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the US. In addition, Identity Digital participates in ICANN at all levels and holds leadership positions at the Registries Stakeholder Group, the Registries Stakeholder Group DNS Abuse Working group, the Contracted Party House DNS Abuse Working Group, and the Security & Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC). With the world’s largest portfolio of nearly 300 TLDs, such as .live, .technology, and .restaurant, Identity Digital operates around 25 million domains on its innovative registry services platform. In addition, it enables customers to discover, register, support and use high-quality domain names with its registrar, Name.com. Headquartered in Bellevue, WA, Identity Digital is a global company with approximately 250 employees.