A web developer from Argentina was able to purchase an official Google domain name while the site was down. The developer, Nicolas Kurona, said he was able to purchase the official Argentina Google search engine page for just 270 pesos, which is about $2.90 USD. Kurona said he legally purchased the site after finding out the page was down from his friends via the WhatsApp app.
After receiving word that the website was temporarily down, Kurona purchased the Google domain through the Network Information Center [NIC] Argentina website, the organization that operates .ar website domains for the country. Kurona believed the purchase would not go through, but was surprised when he continued to follow each step and was eventually sent an official invoice for the purchase of google.com.ar.
After purchasing the site at 9:52 p.m. local time, Kurona searched the domain name and his personal data popped up. Kurona told the BBC, "I was frozen looking at the screen. I could not believe what had just happened." Although purchasing an expired or for-sale domain is legal, Kurona was still nervous about owning the google.com.ar domain.
Kurona said, "I want to make it clear that I never had any bad intentions, I just tried to buy it and the NIC allowed me to... When the purchase process was completed and my data appeared, I knew that something was going to happen... I was really anxious."
However, it seems the google.com.ar domain name was not actually expired. Despite being up for sale on the NIC website, according to Google the domain was not set to expire until July 2021. It remains unclear how the domain was up for sale for a mere 270 pesos, but the domain was returned to the trillion-dollar tech company, which also operates the gaming streaming service Stadia.
During the short time the domain was owned, it is possible that millions of Google searches brought internet users straight to his website. Kurona says he is relieved that he did not get into any trouble, but that the NIC took the domain back and he has yet to be paid his 270 pesos in return. According to Kurona, Google did not reach out to him and has not confirmed how the domain was up for sale, or how it was returned to the tech company.
Although the Google domain did not actually expire, there have been other instances of major websites expiring and being bought by someone other than the previous owner. In 2019, the official Silent Hill website expired and was purchased by a fan. Over a year later, the Silent Hill website became active again as the fan posted memes comparing Pyramid Head to Resident Evil's Lady Dimitrescu.
Source: BBC