Or one might mean that it has redistributed the other way, while other factors in society were redistributing from the poor to the rich, and that the net imbalance would be far worse without the mitigating effect of the internet.

Your presentation presumes that the internet is the only redistributive factor that existed in the time under consideration.

True, but pointing out multiple interpretations adds nothing unless you can tell us about the other factors. What are they?

The most obvious one is tax policy changes that shifted the relative burden off the rich, which is a pretty direct upward transfer.

Global inequality has been sharply dropping over the past few decades as hundreds of millions of people in India and China have been lifted out of poverty. Amusing that you think inequality has been rising.

It has been rising in the U.S. and Europe. I imagine you're pretending you didn't know that, but it's not clear why.