Even after Go Daddy’s apparent reversal on their initial decision to support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) the fall-out continues in this escalating PR disaster as a reported 21,054 domains were transferred away from Go Daddy on Friday last.
Go Daddy dramatically reneged on their decision to support SOPA earlier this week after a massive backlash on Twitter and Reddit, with thousands of Go Daddy customers threatening to register their domains elsewhere. Disapproving customers included many prominent internet figures like Ben Huh, the CEO of the Cheezburger site network and Jimmy Wales, CEO of Wikipedia.
It seems this reversal has been ineffective. According to TheDomains, Go Daddy customers transferred 21,054 domains to other providers on Friday alone, with 15,000 and 14,500 domains being transferred away the previous two days. If an average .COM address with Go Daddy costs €7.66 each, that’s potentially €161,273 lost earnings in future renewals in a single day.
It’s worth mentioning that the difference between the number of domains being transferred away from Go Daddy and the number of domains being transferred into Go Daddy is minimal. Over the full week, the figures largely draw level. Go Daddy register tens of millions of domains each year so this may seem like no more than a drop in the ocean to them.
Other companies like Dell, MacAfee, Microsoft and Sony all publicly support SOPA, but have yet to experience similar boycotts.
