NEWS

December 2025

N°155

More than 4.3 million .fr domain names registered

The .fr Top Level Domain continues to grow, with more than 4.3 million domain names registered to date.

The .fr TLD passed the 4.2 million mark in autumn 2024 and continues to grow. With more than 4.3 million domain names registered, the .fr TLD has sustained its momentum, posting a year-on-year increase of +2.13%

(+2.01% on the previous period).

Read more

The Afnic Foundation celebrates 10 years promoting digital solidarity

The Afnic Foundation for Digital Solidarity celebrates its 10th anniversary. The 130 guests in attendance on 9 December in Paris celebrated a decade of action in support of a more inclusive and unified Internet. An opportunity to look back at these 10 years of activity and some key figures.

Read more

A look back at the French-Japanese Internet Governance conference

Lucien Castex and Sandoche Balakrichenan represented Afnic on 16 and 17 October at the French-Japanese Internet Governance conference

“Building trust from technical aspects to policies and concepts”. Co-organised by Afnic, Keio University X Dignity Center and the Embassy of France in Japan,

the conference was held in Tokyo, Japan, and aimed to be a catalyst for deeper Franco-Japanese collaboration on critical Internet governance issues,

on a technical level as well as in terms of public policy and partnerships.

Read more

6 reasons why a Top-Level Domain gives you greater control over your distribution network

Having control over its distribution network is a key factor for a brand in order to guarantee a seamless experience, protect its image and ensure coherent communication, even across dozens or hundreds of points of sale.

In the field, this diversity is a valuable asset. Online, it is a challenge... and an opportunity.

Read more

Domain names and status

If you’ve searched for information on a domain name (for example with one of the services referred to in my previous article on searching for ‘social’ information associated with a domain name), you will perhaps have come across the mystifying message: “clientHold”.

What does “clientHold” mean? And what are the practical consequences of this domain name status code and of the others we sometimes see when using domain name search services (as in the example below with ICANN’s RDAP, but also with classic services such as Whois)?