The Mystery
If you recently typed a specific URL into your browser and encountered a strange Perplexity.in redirect that landed you straight on Google Gemini, you are not alone.
Did Google just buy out the competition’s regional domain? Did they hack the mainframe? A recent discovery has the tech community scratching its heads, wondering if this is corporate warfare or just a joke.
A recent Reddit thread sparked a debate when user prabhakar_Atla noticed this strange behavior, jokingly asking, “So uh… who let Google kidnap Perplexity.in?”
If you’ve encountered this, you aren’t alone. But before you start spinning conspiracy theories, let’s dig into what is actually happening with the Perplexity.in redirect.
The “Kidnapping” Theory
The initial reaction from the community was a mix of amusement and confusion. The Original Poster (OP) speculated that perhaps Google bought the domain to redirect traffic to their own AI service, or that they needed to buy up subdomains to prevent others from doing so.
It’s a logical jump tech giants have deep pockets, and redirecting a competitor’s localized domain (like the .in for India) to your own product seems like an aggressive, albeit hilarious, power move.
The question raised: “Is it possible to redirect any domain? I think we cannot redirect a domain that we don’t own.”
This is where the tech-savvy Redditors stepped in to debunk the “Google did it” myth.
The Reality: It’s Not Google, It’s a Squatter
As Reddit user pointed out, a quick Whois lookup reveals the truth. The domain perplexity.in was registered using GoDaddy.
Why does this matter?
- Registrars: Google is its own domain registrar. They practically own the internet infrastructure. It is highly unlikely bordering on impossible that Google would use a consumer-grade service like GoDaddy to register a strategic domain.
- The Mechanism: As user
54ND339explained, this is a simple DNS Redirection.
Here is how it works:
- Person A (a random individual) buys
perplexity.infor a few dollars. - Person A goes into their GoDaddy settings and sets a “Forwarding” rule.
- The Rule: “If anyone visits this URL, send them to
gemini.google.com.”
You do not need to own the destination website (Gemini) to send traffic there. It’s the same principle URL shorteners (like bit.ly) use every day.
The Motive: Trolling or Profit?
If Google didn’t do it, who did? And why?
The most likely answer is Domain Squatting.
As a user mentioned on reddit, there are claims that an individual bought the domain shortly after Perplexity.com launched. The strategy is simple:
- Buy a domain that a big company might want later (
perplexity.in). - Wait for the company to contact you and offer a large sum of money to buy it back.
- In the meantime? Have some fun.
Redirecting the traffic to Perplexity’s biggest rival (Google Gemini) is a cheeky way to get attention, and it clearly worked. It puts pressure on Perplexity to buy the domain to stop the “leak” of their traffic to a competitor.
Conclusion
So, Google, you’re good. We know you didn’t kidnap anyone.
This is a classic case of an internet user having fun with DNS records while waiting for a payday. The Perplexity.in redirect is simply a prank by an internet user waiting for a payday. While amusing, it highlights the wild west nature of domain registration. While the redirect is funny, it serves as a reminder to companies: Buy your regional domains early, or someone else will send your users to the competition.
Have you tried the link? Does it still redirect for you, or is it showing a broken page? Let us know in the comments!
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