The UK transfers sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, and the future of the .io domain name is full of uncertainty

On May 22, 2025, the UK and Mauritius signed a historic treaty to formally transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. The archipelago has been under British control since 1814, and the transfer of sovereignty marks the end of decades of colonial disputes. However, this decision has also triggered widespread attention and concerns about the future of the .io domain name.

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.io is the country top-level domain name (ccTLD) of the Chagos Archipelago (i.e. the British Indian Ocean Territory). It has been widely used in technology and start-ups since 1997 and is favored because it matches the abbreviation of "input/output". However, with the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, the legitimacy and future operation of the .io domain name face significant uncertainty.

According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), country top-level domain names are allocated based on ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes. Once the "IO" code is revoked, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (IANA) will begin a five-year domain name retirement process, during which new .io domain name registrations will be stopped and existing domain names will be required to complete the migration within five to ten years.

Currently, the management of the .io domain name is still controlled by a British company, and it is not clear whether it will be transferred to Mauritius or the Chagossians. Some advocates have called for the domain name revenue to be used to support the return of the Chagossians and community reconstruction.

For businesses that rely on .io domain names, the future is full of uncertainty. They may need to migrate to other domain names such as .com or .net in the next few years, which may lead to reduced brand recognition and user confusion.

This sovereignty transfer is not only a major geopolitical event, but also has far-reaching implications for digital infrastructure. The future of the .io domain name will depend on the decisions of international standards organizations and related institutions, as well as responses to historical justice.