The Web Beneath the Seas. The Fragile Cables that Connect our World

Abstract

Subsea fibre optic cables carry over 99% of international data traffic, forming the invisible backbone of modern economic and national security. Grounded in insights from The Web Beneath the Waves, this talk examines the expanding role of critical undersea infrastructure as a primary arena for geopolitical friction, with a focus on East Asia and cross-strait dynamics between China and Taiwan. Beneath the threshold of open armed conflict, grey zone tactics—ranging from plausibly deniable cable cuts to maritime surveillance and strategic market dominance—threaten digital sovereignty and regional peace. Samanth Subramanian explains how corporate power and heightened geopolitical tensions are distorting this essential infrastructure and, in the process, shaping the very nature of the internet. 

Bio

Samanth Subramanian's journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the New Yorker, and the New York Times. His last book, "A Dominant Character," was one of the New York Times' Top 100 Books of 2020 and one of the Wall Street Journal's Top 10 Books the same year. His previous books include "Following Fish" and "This Divided Island," which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. His latest book, "The Web Beneath the Waves," describes the subsea cable network that brings us the internet, the people who lay these cables, and the people who wish to control them. He lives in London and is the acting managing editor of a new magazine called Equator.

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