Democratizing the internet would mean half the known internet not hosting their infrastructure in us-east-2.

It would work and be functional exactly as the internet was designed to be, and worked and functioned for years, by hosting their own servers.

proceeds to list 3 separate providers

Just don't look to hard at the market share or the client composition, sure.

The issue is more so with companies that choose to use cloud providers. They’re the ones attempting to cheap out because they don’t want to pay infrastructure costs.

I mean, do you tell people they're cheaping out because they hire a plumber rather than spending eighteen months learning to DIY every pipe in their house? There's nothing fundamentally wrong with outsourcing to cloud services on its face. A couple big warehouses at strategic points in town specifically designed to operate as central hubs for digital traffic makes far more sense than every single office building having a dozen different floors with two IT guys of dubious quality in a badly ventilated closet manning cobbled together rack space.

For anyone downvoting, I’d love to hear what “democratizing” the internet means, how it would work, or be functional.

One of the more successful American models for publicly owned and operated data infrastructure:

EPB of Chattanooga, formerly known as the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, is an American electric power distribution and telecommunication company owned by the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee

“There’s a monopoly” — proceeds to list 3 separate providers. Don’t forget there’s also Akami, now we’re up to 4. Oh, and Cloud Flare… so that’s 5.

Thats called a Cartel. and a cartel can fucking monopolize shit, dumbass.

Monopolies exist exactly like this. With them not competing fairly and coordinating with one another so as to not encroach on the others territory.

Ever wonder why despite there being dozens of ISPs in the country, you've only ever got an option for like a main one, and an intentionally shitty one to make the main one look better?

It's all a rigged game.

Sounds like it comes down to money and man power, something the world is trying to do away with. As in employing actual people with skills and knowledge and investing money without seeing immediate returns. The whole world has become a cash and dash scheme and they are all just seeing how long they can get away with it before we revolt. I know where my vote lies, do you?