Who’s in Charge of the Dark Net? A Kingdom without a KING The darknet has always been shrouded in mystery, representing secrecy, anonymity, and a bit of chaos. To many, it feels like a digital Wild West that’s hard to tame. However, the truth is that the darknet is influenced by a variety of interconnected forces, including cybercriminals, cybersecurity professionals, law enforcement, and the very technologies that underpin it. Grasping who really controls the darknet and how they do it is crucial for both researchers and everyday users in 2025. Ironically, it was United States government that built the door to the Darknet. The Naval Research Laboratory developed the core technology in the 1990s. It was a tool for spies, a way to cloak intelligence communications in layers of encryption. 1. The Illusion of Total Control There’s no single ruler of the darknet. Unlike the surface web, where giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon hold sway over infrastructure and content, the darknet ...