Because they haven't bought ARIN and ICANN yet? Sorry, that's a bit too cynical perhaps but it's the same reason Google spends perhaps hundreds of millions of

Because they haven't bought ARIN and ICANN yet? Sorry, that's a bit too cynical perhaps but it's the same reason Google spends perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars on Chromium that they give away: vertical integration. They want to own every component required for your online experience, from hardware, os, browser, and hidden infrastructure like DNS. It's a slow-moving battle with Microsoft and Apple, who have similar goals. (Not really sure what FB is doing - trying to do an end-run with Meta and Oculus I suppose. Which takes guts, but will probably fail.) It's eye-opening to read about, for example, the stated geopolitical goals of the United States, who like every nation-state seeks total invulnerability, which in turn requires total dominance. Individuals aren't used to thinking in these terms - its extremely unsentimental and matter-of-fact game theory stuff that will curdle milk. TBH I'm guessing. I don't really see how expansion of tlds helps Google with this goal - maybe they just want more namespace to control as a registar? That doesn't make sense. Hopefully I've nerd-sniped someone who knows more.