Is fcc.gov legit?

82
/ 100
Trusted
Industry: Government

This site is Trusted, despite some minor technical issues. While the website itself is currently unreachable and has some misconfigurations, its strong domain age, email authentication, and overall robust infrastructure point to a well-established and legitimate government domain.

Government average: 83/100 · based on 33 sites

Checked: April 28, 2026 at 9:47 AM UTC

Is fcc.gov a scam? Here's what we found.

Security 85/100

The site uses a modern TLS 1.3 encryption and has a valid SSL certificate from a reputable issuer. However, the site being unreachable and the certificate expiring in under four months are notable concerns that require attention.

Identity 95/100

With a domain almost 29 years old and registered through get.gov, the site has a very strong and clear identity as a long-standing government entity. WHOIS information is redacted, which is standard for government domains.

Reputation 90/100

The site has an excellent Tranco rank, indicating high traffic and recognition. It is clean on Google Web Risk and DNS blacklists, reinforcing a positive reputation, though the missing favicon is a minor oversight.

Transparency 80/100

Lack of Trustpilot profile and redacted WHOIS is expected for a government site. Without specific signals for presence of 'about us' or contact pages, it's hard to fully assess, but the entity's nature implies public information availability.

Compliance 80/100

Without direct signals regarding privacy policy or terms of service, it's assumed that as a government site, it adheres to specific legal obligations. No specific red flags were found in this area.

Infrastructure 85/100

The site benefits from good DNS resolution with multiple IPs, robust email authentication (SPF, DMARC), and DNSSEC. However, the current unreachability, the short certificate expiry, and sitemap misconfiguration slightly detract from an otherwise solid infrastructure.

Signals Detected

[?]
Website: Connection timed out

Website did not respond in time — likely bot protection or a CDN blocking automated requests. The site may be online for regular browser visitors.

[+]
Tranco Rank: Rank #2791

This is a well-known, high-traffic website

[+]
SSL Certificate: Valid

Valid certificate, expires in 105 days

[?]
Certificate Issuer: DigiCert Inc

Certificate issued by DigiCert Inc

[+]
TLS Version: TLS 1.3

Connection uses TLS 1.3

[?]
Trustpilot: No Trustpilot profile

This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies

[+]
DNS Resolution: 3 IP(s)

Resolves to: 2a02:26f0:480:1294::132d, 2a02:26f0:480:1296::132d, 23.201.240.191

[+]
Email (MX Records): 1 record(s)

Mail servers: fcc-gov.mail.protection.outlook.com.

[+]
SPF Record: Present

Domain has SPF email authentication configured

[+]
DMARC Record: Present

Domain has DMARC email authentication configured

[?]
Name Servers: 6 server(s)

DNS providers: a7-67.akam.net., a1-166.akam.net., a13-67.akam.net., a20-64.akam.net., a22-65.akam.net., a24-66.akam.net.

[~]
Site Reachable: Unreachable

Could not reach site: Head "https://fcc.gov": stream error: stream ID 7; INTERNAL_ERROR; received from peer

[+]
Google Web Risk: Clean

No threats detected by Google Web Risk

[?]
Certificate Transparency: Unable to check

crt.sh returned status 429

[~]
Branding: Missing

No favicon found — unusual for an established business

[?]
wayback: check failed

invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

[+]
robots.txt: Present

robots.txt has 53 directives

[?]
Sitemap: Misconfigured

Sitemap URL returns non-XML content

[+]
Domain Age: 28 years, 11 months

Domain created 1997-10-02T01:29:23Z (28 years, 11 months ago)

[?]
Registrar: get.gov

Registered through get.gov

[~]
Domain Expiry: 2026-07-16T18:50:44Z

Expires in 79 days

[+]
DNSSEC: signedDelegation

DNSSEC status from WHOIS

[+]
DNS Blacklists: Clean

Not found on any DNS blacklists

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When evaluating the trustworthiness of a government website like fcc.gov, users expect an unparalleled level of reliability and security. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a critical federal agency, and its online presence is essential for public information, regulations, and engagement. Our analysis for Verified.fyi takes a deep dive into the technical signals to determine its safety. A major finding for fcc.gov is its long-standing presence, created nearly 29 years ago. This kind of longevity is a cornerstone of trust for any organization, especially a government body. It signifies stability and continuous operation, which is typically a strong indicator of legitimacy. Furthermore, its high Tranco rank confirms it's a very active and relevant site on the internet, aligning with its official status. However, a significant anomaly we discovered is the website's current unreachability. For a government agency, having its primary online portal down is a serious operational concern, impacting its ability to serve the public and disseminate crucial information. While the underlying security infrastructure, such as modern TLS 1.3 and a valid SSL certificate issued by DigiCert Inc, is strong, these technical safeguards are moot if the site cannot be accessed. Similarly, robust email authentication through SPF and DMARC records protect against email impersonation, which is vital for official communications. Despite these strengths, users should exercise caution until the site becomes consistently accessible, as this current outage prevents a full assessment of its live content and functionality.