ICANN Policy Update: Who is the OWNER of your domain?
Effective August 21, 2025:
The legal owner of your domain (Registered Name Holder) will be the EXACT name or entity listed in the Company/Organization field of your registrant contact on the WHOIS record—no exceptions.
- If this field includes ANY text, that’s the legal owner.
- If you want the domain registered TO YOU PERSONALLY, leave this field BLANK.
- If your company or organization is the intended owner, double-check for accuracy!
Other ICANN/WHOIS/Privacy Changes:
- After August 20, 2025: For gTLDs, only the registrant contact is recorded and shown—admin, billing, and tech contacts are deleted.
- For ENom Domains: Registrant info is “REDACTED FOR PRIVACY” in public WHOIS by default. If you want it visible, you must enable Whois Publicity. Privacy Protection (ID Protect) can also be activated for deeper privacy.
- For ResellersClub (PDR): WHOIS info is public unless you purchase privacy for each domain.
- To see what appears, search your domain at WhoIs.com .
What you must do:
- Check the Company/Organization field for every domain you manage.
- Blank = YOU are the owner (personally).
- Filled = that entity owns the domain.
- Correct as needed. Follow all verification steps if prompted.
- For redaction vs. privacy protection info: Domain ID Protection - KartHost Knowledgebase
- See How to Access and Update Domain WHOIS Contacts to view your current records.
We’re all navigating these changes together! To ensure our support team is available for urgent needs, please use this Knowledgebase article for domain information lookups—it includes everything you need to check and update your records.
Thank you for supporting our community and helping us serve everyone faster!
