CLIPS: 17 February, 2022
Welcome to the Progressive Tech Policy Project! We curate and send weekly summaries of news on the left, along with occasional deep dives to reflect on timely issues. We always welcome your feedback and suggestions, and you can reach us anytime at techpolicy@geer.com. - Szelena Gray, Editor
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Facebook / GoFundMe Criticized for Facilitating Canada’s Anti-Vaxx “Freedom Convoy”
Organizers are using social media and online fundraising platforms to sustain the “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa and advance the Canadian anti-vaxx movement. GoFundMe recently deplatformed the most successful fundraising pages and refunded more than $8 million in donations, but Facebook has yet to take any significant action. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a national public order emergency for the first time in more than 50 years, and tensions are rising as police gather to clear the capital.
Some of the Facebook accounts that are organizing and leading protests are stolen or fake accounts, based in Romania, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Their speculated purpose is to inflame the movement in order to sell merchandise. Such accounts are cheap to buy and easy to replace. Facebook is also taking criticism for allowing a few top-performing American accounts with massive followings to dominate engagement on the platform. A small, but hyperactive user base has given these conservative narratives significantly more traction on Facebook, with the top 10 Facebook pages being responsible for 37% of total interactions with trucker’s protest posts from public pages. All 10 pages are pro-convoy and 8/10 are from the US.
Christian-focused fundraising platform GiveSendGo was hacked and donor information was leaked, revealing that more than half of the donations were from the US, and that there were donations as large as $1 million USD. Initially, the protests were focused on resisting vaccine mandates for Canadian truckers who cross into the United States, but they have evolved into a national debate over how the Canadian government is handling the pandemic and the rise of right-wing politics. The role Facebook and other online platforms have played in facilitating protests and funding the anti-vaxx movement, especially with foreign donations, is undeniable.
COVERAGE
Wired, The Alt-Right on Facebook Are Hijacking Canada’s Trucker Blockade
Politico, What's happening with the Canadian trucker convoy? Here's what you need to know
Slate, The Dilemma at the Center of Canada’s Trucker Protests
Platformer, Canadian truckers storm the platforms
The Hill, Third US-Canada border crossing blocked by 'Freedom Convoy' protests
The Guardian, The whole world should be worried by the ‘siege of Ottawa’. This is about much more than a few anti-vaxx truckers
NBC, As U.S. ‘trucker convoy’ picks up momentum, foreign meddling adds to fray
Engadget, Facebook removed anti-vaccine trucker protest groups run by overseas actors
Grid, The Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ is backed by a Bangladeshi marketing firm and right-wing fringe groups
Reuters, Ford, Toyota halt some output as U.S., Canada warn on trucker protests
WSJ, Canada’s Trudeau Invokes Emergency Powers to Address Trucker Protests
The Verge, Funding site linked to Canadian trucker protest hacked, donor info leaked online
Vice, Hackers Leak Entire Donor History of Every Campaign on This Christian Crowdfunding Site
RESPONSES
Teamsters Canada, the union that represents over 55,000 Canadian truckers, responded to the evolution of the protest by releasing a statement, “The so-called ‘freedom convoy’ and the despicable display of hate lead by the political Right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians does not reflect the values of Teamsters Canada, nor the vast majority of our members, and in fact has served to delegitimize the real concerns of most truck drivers today.”
Accountable Tech tweeted, “Amazing how social media feeds and cultivates these far-right anti-vax protests. What started in Ottawa is now springing up in cities across the world. Thank you Facebook.”
They continued, tweeting, “Overseas content mills are behind many Facebook groups promoting anti-vaccine trucker convoys. This movement has become a catch-all for the far-right, and they're all coalescing on Facebook.”
Jordan Zakarin, Reporter/Producer for More Perfect Union, tweeted “Facebook is faciltating the neo-confederate trucker terror caravan while promoting the most misleading and dangerous (and annoying) media personalities in the country. Facebook is a uniquely destructive monster that should be broken up.”
Nazmul Ahasan, an investigative journalist, tweeted, “So I’ve found several other large Facebook groups (now deleted) run by Bangladeshi ‘marketers’ trying to profit off of the Canadian or U.S. truckers’ ‘Freedom Convoy’. I spoke to two marketers both based in Moulvibazar, ‘My findings support those of @Meta, as described in this story by @oneunderscore__. These marketers attempt to cash in on hot-button issues in the West. They build groups around these issues and then direct traffic to T-shirt selling websites.’”
Karen Kornbluh, former member of the FCC, also noticed the coverage seemed odd, tweeting, “The top 10 Facebook pages are responsible for 37% of total interactions with trucker’s protest posts from public pages. All 10 are pro-convoy and 8/10 US”
Tech Reporter Karle Bode tweeted, “the Australian version of this dumb phony trucker convoy gibberish was "organized" through AI-generated fake Facebook profiles, which seems like a pretty obvious red fucking flag to me”
Ben Collins, Senior reporter at NBC, tweeted, “You’ve probably seen a Facebook group about American ‘trucker convoys’ who want to block traffic in LA or DC. Guess what? Some of those groups were created by fake people in Romania. But some of them are now very real, and they’re really planning something.”
He continued in his thread, tweeting, “There are dozens of these ‘Trucker convoy’ accounts with tens of thousands of followers. Some are real. Some are created in places like Vietnam, but targeted DC or LA. The fake ones were previously anti-mandate/pro-Trump pages that renamed themselves to reference convoys.”
Jon Cooper, Majority Leader of Suffolk County Legislature, tweeted, “American ‘Trucker Convoy’ Facebook groups are being run by fake accounts tied to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Romania and a few other countries. Shouldn't this be a bigger story?”
In response to a tweet about hackers getting the names of mega-donors funding the Ottawa insurrection, Director of cybersecurity at EFF, Eva Galperin, tweeted, “Hacktivism is still not dead.”
TikTok Bans Misogyny, Misgendering, and Deadnaming
TikTok has updated their Community Guidelines to ensure a safe and secure platform, targeting specifically misgendering, dangerous challenges, and dangerous activities like disordered eating. They will remove all videos that break community guidelines and sanction users for violations, which is being touted by progressive groups as a win in response to calls for platforms to more proactively address potential and real user harm. Experts have pointed out that the detailed guidelines are exemplary, in large part because of the practical challenges posed by moderating content online with vague definitions of “harm.” In 2016, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society published a harmful speech Q&A unpacking these persistent challenges, now the subject of much regulatory interest.
COVERAGE
CNET, TikTok expands its policies against dangerous challenges, misogyny
Mashable, TikTok's ban on misogyny and misgendering attempts to clean up For You Pages
RESPONSES
The Center for Democracy and Technology tweeted a quote from Dr. Casey Fiesler (a researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder), saying that TikTok's community guidelines are "detailed," adding "these additions are a good thing" because "hate speech or harmful content is not well defined."
GLAAD tweeted, “Following advocacy from GLAAD and @UltraViolet, and recommendations from the GLAAD Social Media Safety Index, @tiktok_us updated Community Guidelines to prohibit misgendering, deadnaming, misogyny, and promotion of so-called “conversion therapy” programs.”
UltraViolet tweeted, “When we launched our #FeministNet policy demands, we held #BigTech accountable for not doing enough to combat online hate. Thanks to our work w/ @glaad, @tiktok_us is banning misogyny, misgendering, deadnaming & conversion therapy on their platform.”
The Eating Disorders Coalition tweeted, “Thank you @tiktok_us for prioritizing the well-being of your community by taking down harmful content, including videos that promote #EatingDisorders.”
The National Organization for Women tweeted, “THANK YOU @tiktok_us for taking steps to protect women and LGBTQIA+ people from hate and bullying on your platform. This is huge!”
The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism tweeted, “Good on TikTok. According to @glaad, Twitter is the only other major platform whose policies explicitly prohibit misgendering and deadnaming. Time for all tech companies to step up.”
Senators Call Attention to Previously Undisclosed CIA Surveillance Program
This week, a partially redacted letter was published by Sens. Wyden and Heinrich (both members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence) that expressed concerns about a previously undisclosed CIA surveillance program that collects Americans’ data in bulk, without congressional approval or oversight. The letter, originally sent in April 2021, called upon Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns to declassify a report published by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), which describes the nature of the program and the authorities under which it operates.
The heavy redactions in the letter leave few details about the nature of the program. Unredacted portions suggest the program operates under Executive Order 12333, and outside the Congressional foreign intelligence surveillance framework. (EO 12333 has been the subject of scrutiny in the past for its role in enabling NSA surveillance programs with limited Congressional oversight). Wyden and Heinrich allege they had not been informed about the activity, saying its hidden existence undercuts oversight and legislation “limit[ing] and… prohibit[ing] the warrantless collection of Americans’ records.” While the DNI has yet to release a declassified version of the PCLOB’s report, it did release a redacted list of PCLOB staff recommendations concerning the program. It’s not clear if or when the full declassified report will be released.
COVERAGE
The Hill, Late-night reports suggest CIA collecting more data on Americans
New York Times, C.I.A. Is Collecting in Bulk Certain Data Affecting Americans, Senators Warn
Wired, The CIA Has Secretly Run a ‘Bulk Collection’ Program Affecting Americans
NBC, CIA is secretly collecting bulk data pertaining to Americans, senators say
Wall Street Journal, Secret CIA Bulk Surveillance Program Includes Some Americans’ Records, Senators Say
AP News, Senators: CIA has secret program that collects American data
CNet, Senators want more transparency about CIA program that included bulk data collection
Engadget, Senator letter claims a secret CIA surveillance program is bulk collecting data
Reason, New Report Highlights an Old Problem—the CIA Is Still Snooping on Americans
CyberScoop, CIA 'secret bulk collection program' picked up some Americans' data, senators reveal
Complex, CIA Has Secret Program That Collects Information on Americans, According to Two Senators
RESPONSES
From Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Martin Heinrich’s letter: “What these documents demonstrate is that many of the same concerns that Americans have about their privacy and civil liberties also apply to how the CIA collects and handles information under executive order and outside the FISA law.”
Demand Progress released a statement lambasting the CIA’s data collection program, saying: “Despite years of Congressional and public outcry against warrantless mass surveillance of people in the United States, the CIA has been hiding bulk spying programs, infringing on the rights of literally every American, and completely evading the the oversight of Congress and the courts… The CIA must come clean about what it is using Executive Order 12333 for, and it should consider that two years ago, Section 215 of the Patriot Act sunset, permanently, because the government abused its powers and betrayed the public's trust.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation started a campaign calling for federal legislation protecting Fourth Amendment rights, saying: “Regardless of the CIA’s legal justification or technical means of collection and storage, Congress must act fast to ensure the Fourth Amendment’s vitality in the modern age.”
The ACLU tweeted, “Newly declassified documents reveal that the CIA has been secretly conducting massive surveillance programs that capture Americans’ private information.”
Edward Snowden tweeted, “This is the systematic construction of a surveillance state that will dominate the rest of our lives. People brushing this off with ‘duh’ or ‘I'm not surprised’ should take this seriously: elections are months away. Vote out any politician who defends this in the slightest way.”
Citizens for Ethics tweeted, “It's not a shock that the CIA doesn't believe in transparency, but what is incredibly troubling is what seems to be a deliberate attempt by the CIA to bypass the attorney generals guidelines for collecting Americans private data. Some red flags here.”
Reporter Katie Bo Lillis released a Twitter thread breaking down the allegations in Sens. Wyden and Heinrich’s letter on the CIA’s collection program.
In related news, over 40 civil rights and activism organizations sent a letter to Pres. Biden, challenging his signing statement for the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which they say “unlawfully asserts the president's ability to withhold valuable natsec info that Congress needs to provide crucial oversight & legislation re: war & military.”
Signatories of the letter included Common Cause, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, the Government Accountability Project, Niskanen Center, and Public Citizen.
Counsel at the Brennan Center, Katherine Yon Ebright, wrote an article for the Hill connecting Pres. Biden’s signing statement for the NDAA to the DoD’s “long track record of snubbing congressionally mandated reporting requirements.” She adds: “The more involved you are in war powers research and advocacy, the clearer it becomes that military oversight is hampered by the Department of Defense's *pervasive* noncompliance with laws requiring reports on military activity.”
Texas Sues Meta Over Facial Recognition
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Meta, saying Facebook’s now defunct photo-tagging feature unlawfully collected biometric data on Texas residents. The latest of several state-led actions against Meta, the lawsuit rests on state biometric privacy laws requiring informed consent that do not yet exist at the federal level. Arriving on the heels of the widespread opposition to IRS’ facial recognition verification requirements, the lawsuit joins ongoing calls to limit the expansion of biometric data collection across platforms. As facial recognition technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated and extractive, AI accountability experts are concerned by recent findings that reveal a gradual loss of consent in the collection of sensitive information.
In related news, Clearview AI has reportedly told investors of their plan to store every human’s face in their database and expand their work with private companies. Meeting the latest revelations with alarm, digital rights and ethics groups are calling for legislators to clamp down on the encroachment of facial recognition and companies like Clearview AI immediately.
COVERAGE
CNET, Texas Sues Facebook Over Its Use of Facial Recognition
The Hill, Texas alleges Facebook's facial recognition practices violated privacy protections
TechCrunch, Texas attorney general files lawsuit against Meta over Facebook's facial recognition technology
The Verge, Texas is suing Meta over Facebook facial recognition
NPR, Texas sues Meta, saying it misused facial recognition data
Washington Post, Facial recognition firm Clearview AI tells investors it's seeking massive expansion beyond law enforcement
Gizmodo, Here's the Oppressive Surveillance You'll Face If You Protest in NYC
The Hill, Facial-recognition firm planning expansion beyond law enforcement: report
RESPONSES
A coalition of 40+ civil and digital rights organizations sent a letter to the IRS and Treasury, calling for governmental agencies to end the use of ID.me and other facial recognition identity verification systems.
Signatories included Access Now, the ACLU, Consumer Action, Demand Progress, EFF, Kairos, the NAACP, the Open Tech Institute, the Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability, and Public Citizen.
Color of Change tweeted, “Facial recognition technology is a racially biased tool that increases surveillance of Black people in both the criminal justice system & everyday life.”
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) quoted Director of Legislation John Davisson, tweeting, “We can’t count on Congress and even the @FTC to be on top of every data abuse. It’s important that there be other avenues.”
The American Economic Liberties Project tweeted, “@Facebook’s toxic business model is rooted in extracting as much personal information and data from users — whether they consent or not — and then selling their data to the highest bidder. Break them up.”
UltraViolet tweeted, “Facebook has been violating our privacy. We don't want to live in a technocracy governed by Facebook that regularly violates our most basic human rights. “
Chris Hoofnagle, faculty director at Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, tweeted, “Someone did a great job briefing Judge Donato---he totally gets it: ‘...technology now permits the wholesale collection and storage of an individual’s unique biometric identifiers—identifiers that cannot be changed if compromised or misused…’”
Director of Fight for the Future, Evan Greer, tweeted, “This is notable in part because it's the first time (to my knowledge) that a Republican attorney general has enforced a biometrics law. After the backlash we saw to the IRS use of IDme it's clear that opposition to #facialrecognition is becoming mainstream”
In response to Clearview AI’s pitch to investors, Greer tweeted, “terrifying. ban facial recognition and throw Clearview's servers into the fires of mount doom”
Jonathan Zittrain, Director at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society tweeted, “Failing to deal with this company’s behavior when it started is the biggest public policy failure in the digital space in a generation. Reining it in is that much tougher now that it’s well-funded and so frequently used by government clients.”
Nvidia and Lockheed Deals Called Off, In Major Antitrust Wins for FTC
The FTC continued a string of successful merger blocks (following last week’s news that Nvidia would call off efforts to acquire chip design firm Arm) with reports that Lockheed Martin had terminated its $4.4 billion agreement to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne. This news comes less than a month after the FTC sued to block the merger, with this abnormally short timeline (between lawsuit filing and merger dissolution) giving credence to a proactive new antitrust stance by the FTC, and signaling legislative fervor for protecting consumers from corporate consolidation / price gouging amidst inflation and supply shortages. The FTC’s suit preceded a DoD report released this week recommending stronger merger oversight of the highly concentrated defense industrial base.
COVERAGE
Reuters, Lockheed scraps $4.4 billion deal to buy Aerojet amid regulatory roadblocks
Axios, FTC's Lina Khan two-for-two in merger block attempts after Lockheed calls off deal
Bloomberg, FTC’s Khan Lands 2-0 Winning Streak With Lockheed Deal Collapse
GeekWire, Lockheed Martin kills plans for acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne after FTC blocks deal
Nasdaq, Lockheed Terminates $4.4 Bln Aerojet Rocketdyne Deal Due To U.S. FTC's Lawsuit
PYMNTS, Lockheed Ends $4.4B Deal to Acquire Aerojet After Regulators Challenged Transaction
Wall Street Journal, Lockheed Martin Scraps Aerojet Rocketdyne Deal
ZDNet, FTC: End of Nvidia-Arm merger 'safeguards future innovation'
RESPONSES
Fight Corporate Monopolies tweeted, “A giant of the military-industrial complex wanted to establish a complete monopoly. The FTC voted unanimously to put a stop to it.”
AELP tweeted, “Three weeks ago, the @FTC sued to block the Lockheed-Aerojet merger to protect the American defense industrial base and the taxpayer from the dangerous effects of consolidation. Today, Lockheed announced they'd be abandoning the deal.”
National Economic Council member Tim Wu said in a series of statements on the FTC’s recent merger blocks: “The age of the green-light merger is over.”
In a Twitter thread, Cory Doctorow wrote: “It's a new day in America. After 40 years in a coma, antitrust law is rising again… This is a dangerous practice in every industry, one that lets companies take away our self-determination while collapsing labor markets and putting the screws to their workers.”
Remarking on the DoD report, Matt Stoller tweeted, “Consolidation drives higher prices, but the DOD also noted that monopoly poses ‘mission risk’ and ‘in cases where the existing dominant supplier or suppliers are influenced by an adversary nation, pose significant national security risks… Fortunately, this is changing. The Pentagon and Lina Khan's FTC blocked the Lockheed-Aerojet merger. This was a shock to Wall Street, and a bunch of traders probably lost their job when the merger failed.”
Kids Online Safety Act Introduced in the Senate To Reform COPPA
Announced with bipartisan support, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) would require social media platforms to adopt additional measures to protect young users. KOSA would expand existing privacy regulations under COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998) by expanding its coverage of minors from 13 up to age 16. Unlike COPPA, which merely requires websites to give notices about their data collection practices and to obtain parental consent in limited circumstances, KOSA imposes a duty on websites to act in the best interests of minors by requiring that they take proactive steps to mitigate minors’ exposure to harmful content (e.g. content that promotes eating disorders). It also requires that websites offer certain safeguards for minors and additional privacy tools for parents.
The result of several probes into the harms of social media on children, KOSA joins three other pieces of legislation aimed at increasing transparency and ensuring child safety on the internet, including proposed amendments to COPPA, the KIDS Act, and the controversial EARN IT Act. If passed, the measures could result in a sweeping overhaul of social media platforms’ practices, addressing concerns brought to light by Frances Haugen. The new legislation garnered some support from digital activists who believed the updates were long overdue while receiving criticism from others for still depending on the collection and retention of user data.
COVERAGE
CNN, Senators launch bipartisan bill to regulate kids' use of social media
Protocol, The Senate's big online safety bill for kids is finally here
Tech Policy Press, Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal Unveil Kids Online Safety Act
TechCrunch, Senators propose the Kids Online Safety Act after five hearings with tech execs
Washington Post, Sens. Blumenthal and Blackburn unveil the Kids Online Safety Act
RESPONSES
In a now-deleted tweet, Frances Haugen, Facebook whistleblower wrote, “Today's development on Capitol Hill is good news for a number of reasons.1. Transparency: The legislation introduced today allows researchers to access data from tech companies and investigate potential harm to children and teens. 2. Empowerment: It provides kids & parents basic tools that serve as guardrails for their online activity. 3. Bipartisanship: Senators @MarshaBlackburn & @SenBlumenthal deserve huge credit for joining forces. Whatever your party affiliation, the wellbeing of kids matters.”
Tech Transparency Project tweeted, “One of the provisions of the Kids Online Safety Act is a prohibition on tech platforms from showing kids ads for products like alcohol and tobacco. Meta already has a policy against showing teens these ads, but it constantly fails to enforce it.”
In a follow-up, they tweeted, “But if KOSA is passed, and this experiment were replicated, it would be ample evidence that Meta is breaking the law. It's unclear how Meta might adjust its ad approval process in response to KOSA, but staying compliant would surely require doing a lot more than it has thus far.”
Common Sense Media tweeted, “The Kids Online Safety Act was introduced today to hold social media companies responsible for harm they cause to children on their platforms. It's long overdue for the federal government to update tech policy and protect kids online”
5Rights Foundation tweeted, “5Rights welcomes the introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act. The digital world should be safe for children by design and by default. This would bring us one step closer to delivering on this ambition.”
Megan Gray, advisor at Stanford Center for Internet & Society tweeted, “‘In issuing the public reports required under this section, a covered platform shall take steps to safeguard the privacy of its users, including ensuring that data is presented in a de-anonymized, aggregated format.’ LOL. Let's say that can be chalked up to innocent typo....Except for fact that the entire proposal IMPLICITLY REQUIRES extensive online tracking, identification, and data retention. It's the ‘Kids Online Safety Act,’ proposed this week in US Senate.”
Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership tweeted, “On data privacy: it's about more than inconvenient ads. It's about threats to personal safety, particularly for American children. @SenBlumenthal + @MarshaBlackburn's Kids Online Safety Act (introduced today) will address this #FutureOfTech”
White House Reports 10 Million Households Signed Up For Internet Affordability Program
The White House announced Monday that 10 million households had signed up for the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which allotted $14.2 billion (under the bipartisan infrastructure bill) to increase access to high-quality broadband and bridge gaps in pricing or infrastructure connectivity. Progressive groups praised these efforts to bridge the digital divide and connect rural/low-income households, highlighting the necessity of a broadband connection for school or work in the modern day (especially following the COVID-19 pandemic).
COVERAGE
Protocol, The FCC's affordable broadband program is starting to make a dent
Daily Dot, FCC says 10 million homes have now signed up for affordable internet subsidy
CNet, White House Says 10M Households Have Signed Up for Broadband Subsidy
UPI, White House says 10M homes have signed up for Internet affordability program
Statescoop, Millions of Americans are now getting broadband discounts from the FCC
Broadband Breakfast, White House Touts Over 10 Million Registered Households on Affordable Connectivity Program
RESPONSES
New America’s Open Technology Institute sent a letter, co-signed by multiple advocacy and social justice groups, praising the goals of the ACP; they also suggested several language inclusions to increase accessibility and understanding from the communities the program targets.
Signatories included Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, MediaJustice, and Public Knowledge.
In a statement, Public Knowledge applauded the ACP, particularly for offering eligible households discounts on monthly service rates and a device discount on purchasing a laptop, tablet, or computer. From their statement: “The ACP… provides eligible consumers with a discount on their broadband bill. This program will help millions of Americans connect to the internet even if they could not otherwise afford to.”
CTIA said in a statement: “We congratulate the Administration, Congress, and the FCC on the successful implementation of the Emergency Broadband Benefit and new Affordable Connectivity Program. More than two out of every three participants choose wireless, underscoring the important role wireless broadband plays in keeping Americans connected.”
Building Back Together tweeted, “‘High-speed internet is a necessity not a luxury’ – @VP. That's why the Biden-Harris Administration created the Affordable Connectivity Program which will lower the cost of high-speed internet to households across America.”
White House Director of the NEC, Brian Deese, tweeted: “The internet connects: consumers to more products; entrepreneurs to more customers; students to new learning opportunities. W/ the Affordable Connectivity Program, we are giving underserved communities access to better economic opportunity.”
In a Twitter thread, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said: “No family should have to choose between paying for gas or groceries and their monthly internet bill, especially when a connection is essential for work, school, health care and more… Now with more than 10 million households enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program, we’ve proven the need for this program, and we are continuing our efforts to ensure no community, no household, no one is left offline.”