Digital Beat

Achieving Digital Equity is a Matter of Social and Economic Justice
and is Worth Pursuing

On May 8, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he is ending the Digital Equity Act, calling it unconstitutional, illegal, and racist. In fact, the opposite is true. The Digital Equity Act is constitutional, on solid legal footing, and aims to ensure everyone in America can reap the benefits of the 21st Century’s infrastructure of opportunity: broadband.

The Digital Equity Act begins with a recognition that “a broadband connection and digital literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals participate in the society, economy, and civic institutions of the United States; and access health care and essential services, obtain education, and build careers.”

The aims of the Digital Equity Act are that simple, that uncontroversial. The law is clear: The Department of Commerce shall establish programs to “achieve digital equity, promote digital inclusion activities, and spur greater adoption of broadband.”

We all benefit when we are all connected—workers connect with jobs, patients connect with doctors, students connect with teachers, and small businesses connect with customers. That’s what the Digital Equity Act was designed to deliver.

In our system of checks and balances, Congress makes the law, the Administration implements the law, and the courts interpret the law. As states have partnered with the U.S. Department of Commerce to ensure everyone in the U.S. can get and stay online, there has not been a single legal challenge to the Digital Equity Act. Neither President Donald Trump nor Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is empowered to declare a law unconstitutional. That is the sole purview of the courts. The Administration’s responsibility is to implement the law as written.

This was Sec. Lutnick’s pledge to Congress during his confirmation hearing: “I will follow the law.” The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society calls on Sec. Lutnick to do just that and continue to implement Digital Equity Act programs as intended by Congress.

The Digital Equity Act identifies the “covered populations” that lag behind in internet adoption—among them, older adults, veterans, low-income consumers, people living in rural areas, and, where it appears to run afoul of President Trump and Secretary Lutnick, racial and ethnic minorities.

Here's why. To put it into perspective, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is dispersing over $40 billion to states and territories to ensure broadband networks reach every address in the U.S. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is aiming to deploy broadband to just over five million rural locations.

The broadband adoption divide is actually much larger than the access divide. Think of it this way: 97 percent of households that make over $75,000 have home broadband. For households making less than $20,000, adoption is less than 72 percent. In 2020, researchers at the Humana Foundation and Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) found that nearly 22 million American seniors (42 percent) did not have wireline broadband access at home. About 15 percent of U.S. Veterans lack the connectivity they need for telehealth and other services. Less than 60 percent of rural households have broadband service. While 80 percent of White adults report having a broadband connection at home, smaller shares of Black and Hispanic adults say the same—71 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

These are the people that Congress directed Digital Equity Act programs to serve.

With the support of Digital Equity Act programs, state governments across the country have been engaged in a considered process to determine the digital needs of their residents and develop appropriate plans to meet those needs. They await the federal funding needed to implement those plans.

In this Truth Social post, President Trump said that Secretary Lutnick supports his move to “cancel” Digital Equity Act programs. But a social media post can’t overturn U.S. law.. Sec. Lutnick, do not implement this illegal order.

As Congress found, “Achieving digital equity is a matter of social and economic justice and is worth pursuing.” That’s still true.

President Trump and Secretary Lutnick: Don’t break the law. Complete the job of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and get every American online.

For more, see:

Dr. Revati Prasad is the Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

Drew Garner is the Director of Policy Engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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Kevin Taglang
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Benton Institute
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