The article is paywalled.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260225105601/https://www.wired.com/story/say-goodbye-to-the-undersea-cable-that-made-the-global-internet-possible/?src=longreads

https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.wired.com/story/say-goodbye-to-the-undersea-cable-that-made-the-global-internet-possible/

And what's with the (presumably genAI) image of a shark tearing the cable? Is a shark associated with something I'm not aware of like a company or something?

What would the transatlantic fiber-optic cable think about this

The only thing that comes to mind is that undersea cables are often under attack by sharks.

Ironically I went searching for if that was true and ended up at this same article:

History was unmade last year, as engineers began the massive project of ripping the first-ever transoceanic fiber-optic cable from the ocean floor. Just don’t mention sharks.

SHARKS ARE INNOCENT. Or at least they’re not eating the internet. As a family of cartilaginous fish, sharks are collectively not guilty of most, if not all, charges of biting, chomping, chewing, or otherwise attacking the underwater network of fiber-optic cables. The people who build and maintain the nearly 600 subsea cables that carry almost all of our intercontinental traffic—supporting just about every swipe, tap, Zoom, and doomscroll anywhere on the planet—have a love-hate relationship with this myth, which has persisted for decades. They might even hate that I’m starting this piece with it.

It's a terrible way to open an article: here's some irrelevant bullshit that hides what will actually be in the article until after you pay us.

Huh, TIL. I guess the image is just clickbait then.

It was keeping things light.

So for a change a company is cleaning up after itself? That's nice! (Not sure what's up with the endless reminders that it's not sharks)