How do internet domains work? Who are you paying?
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ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) administers the entire domain name space. They decide what TLDs (top-level domains, things like .com, .uk, .design) exist, and are responsible for designating the IP addresses of the DNS root servers (which your computer, or another computer on your network, such as your home router, contacts to convert resolve domain names to other info such as IP addresses). ICANN is a non-profit international organisation based in the US, but comprising many different international committees, and whose technical infrastructure is globally distributed.
ICANN designates a *registry* for each TLD. For example, the registry for .com is a US company called Verisign, and the registry for .uk is a UK company called Nominet. Registries are responsible for enforcing any registration requirements, e.g. .sch.uk can only be used by UK schools, .ac.uk can only be used by UK universities, etc. ICANN charges registries thousands of dollars annually to maintain ownership of a TLD, and the registry has numerous administrative responsibilities.
Registries can do whatever they want with TLDs they own (e.g. .google is owned by Google, and they do whatever they want with it), but typically they engage in contracts with *registrars* to sell second-level domains (e.g. example.com, example.co.uk) to people like you and me. Registrars include companies like GoDaddy, Porkbun, and Ionos. Registries charge registrars for this in order to cover their costs, and registrars are in the business of making profit, so they charge you and I accordingly.
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