Trump's Cancellation of Digital Equity Act Programs Will Perpetuate the Digital Divide

In early May, following months of silence and confusion, the Trump administration abruptly cancelled Digital Equity Act programs—the US’s biggest investment in providing Americans with the tools and skills they need to reap the benefits of accessing the internet. And with states and organizations on the cusp of implementing their plans for the funding, the timing couldn’t be worse. Building broadband infrastructure—the cables and wires that allow people to access the internet in the first place—is only one part of closing the digital divide; ensuring people subscribe to the service is the other. That’s why Congress created the DEA at the same time it invested $42 billion into broadband infrastructure buildout through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Addressing non-infrastructural barriers—like the cost of a subscription, availability of connected devices, and the inability to safely navigate online services—is necessary to ensure people can actually get online with the networks that are built. In fact, lack of internet adoption is a more significant cause of the digital divide than lack of physical infrastructure. This is the problem that the DEA was meant to address by funding digital literacy instruction, affordable device programs, technical support, and community-based digital navigators to help people get and stay online.