Over 48,000 British-held EU Internet domain names were taken offline indefinitely on Monday in the wake of Brexit. Leave.eu was one of the high profile domains affected by the move was

EURid revoked Britons’ right to the domain name citing Brexit as the reason.

The process to remove the domains began following the formal withdrawal of the UK from the European Union in early 2020. To be eligible for a .eu domain, a person must be an EU citizen, a resident in a member state or an organisation established in the Union.

British holders were first notified that they would lose their domain in October 2020. The removal on Monday was the final step in the process.

Any sites that were still not compliant by January 2021 were suspended before finally being revoked this week. The director of the European Centre for International Political Economy Hosuk Lee-Makiyama told  Euronews Next:

“You can really tell the lack of consequential thinking on behalf of the UK. But also on the side of people who are pointing this out almost with schadenfreude against the UK and amongst the people who are advocating for Remain, because actually to require a local presence or citizenship when it comes to domain names is something that we sometimes consider to be a trade barrier.”

On monday EURid released the 48,000 revoked domain names “for general registration on ‘first come, first serve’ basis” by EU citizens or residents.