Short answer, yes. In order to communicate with the rest of the world, you need to pay someone who operates giant routers and fiber optic cables. However, the world of internet connection companies are split into "tiers". Your home ISP is likely classified as a "tier 2" network. You pay your ISP for access to their (tier 2) network, and they in turn pay a larger "tier 1" network for access. The tier 1 network owns lots of network infrastructure globally, and communicates with other tier 1 networks, so there's no one really "above" them, network speaking. Large internet companies like Google and Facebook generally skip paying tier 2 network companies, and connect straight to a tier 1 network. FYI, the largest tier 1 network is a company called Level 3, based in Colorado.

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