Google loses control of blogspot.in, puts 4.4mn blog sites at risk

After Google lost control of ‘blogspot.in’ it was purchased by domainming.com and now, it is up for purchase on the domain marketplace for $5,999.

The issue has put nearly 4.4 million blog sites at the risk of being used for spreading scams and malware and redirecting to other harmful websites. (REUTERS)

Google Blogger is one of the most popular blogging platforms for those who want to start their own blog without the fuss of purchasing a domain name. But now, the fate of all the blogs ‘blogspot.in' domain name is in peril as Google seems to have lost control of the URL putting nearly 4.4 million blog sites at the risk of being used for spreading scams and malware and redirecting to other harmful websites.

While Google has lost control over the ‘blogspot.in' domain name, netizens can still access their blogs by changing ‘blogsite.in' in their URL to ‘blogspot.com'. This is because Google, back in 2012, implemented a functionality that redirected all the Blogger sites to their country-specific URL to match it to their geolocation and make the content take-down requests faster. But now, they won't be redirected to the working URL automatically.

As per a report by Bleeping Computer and The Next Web, Google let the domain name ‘blogspot.in' expire early in June 2020. This took away the company's control over it. After the domain name ‘blogspot.in' became inactive, it was purchased by an India-based hosting provider called domainming.com. And now, it is up for purchase on the domain marketplace for $5,999 ( ₹4,49,820 lakhs approximately).

Google hasn't commented on the matter yet. However, given the nature of the matter it is expected that Google will purchase the domain back and resolve the matter quickly.