Google, cables and conspiracy theories: Reddit has shocking answers to who could be the real owner of the internet

Have you ever thought about who the internet is? Or who owns the internet? It is very interesting to learn about such conspiracy theories, which often revolve on Reddit. “Google is the internet.” That is a bold belief floating around a recent Reddit thread on r/IndiaTech, and it is the kind of statement that makes you pause mid-scroll. The conversation started when user @limsus shared a tweet by X user Arin Verma, and it is a doozy.

Who owns the internet?

Verma laid out the case like a tech manifesto: Google owns 14% of Anthropic, 8% of SpaceX, runs AI platforms like Gemini, powers Claude with its own TPU chips, dominates search with 90% of global queries, and runs YouTube. Oh, and it also controls Android, manages ads, email, cloud, and browsers, while quietly mapping the world via Google Maps. “Google is the internet,” Verma highlighted.

Reddit weighs in

Cue the Redditors with a sense of perspective and humour. One commenter pointed out that TATA Communications runs one of the largest fibre optic networks in the world, carrying perhaps a quarter of global internet traffic. “If they shut down, Google will have to mail your search results by post :P” they quipped. The comment garnered laughs, but it also pinpoints an important truth: what we see online may not be the whole story.

Perception vs. reality

The thread quickly turned into a debate about what “the internet” really is. Google’s reach is undeniably massive and shaping what billions see, search for, and watch daily. But the physical backbone—the cables, servers, and networks that make our instant access possible, is a far less glamorous world, run by telecoms, data centres, and undersea fibre.

It is a classic case of perception vs. reality. For most of us, Google feels like the internet. We search, stream, navigate, and communicate through its ecosystem. But take a step back, and the internet is a sprawling, distributed beast, powered by countless invisible hands and yes, even companies you have probably never heard of.

In the end, the Reddit discussion is not just about tech stats or corporate power. It is a reminder of how deeply intertwined our digital lives are with a few dominant players and how much of the magic behind the scenes may go unnoticed.

While both claims are unverified, these Reddit theories could lay the foundation for strong possibilities.