Los Angeles Times

Close the digital divide, but don’t trap people in the slow lane

Although Republicans recoiled when President Biden unveiled his sweeping infrastructure plan in March, a bipartisan group of senators has thrown its support behind one of the less conventional ideas in the package: making a massive investment in broadband networks. But as crucial as these networks are to the 21st century economy, it’s not just the amount Congress spends that matters.

America’s lack of universal broadband is an outrage

When it unveiled its National Broadband Plan in 2010, the Federal Communications Commission declared that every American should have access to affordable and robust broadband service by 2020, along with “the means and skills to subscribe.” It was the right goal; as the COVID-19 pandemic has made painfully obvious, broadband is key not just to economic growth and productivity, but also to equal access to education, jobs, healthcare and an array of opportunities.

Trump’s Ban From Facebook Is Upheld, but Panel Orders Review

Facebook was justified in banning then-President Donald Trump, the company’s independent oversight board ruled but didn’t appropriately explain if or why the former president should be permanently locked out of the social-media platform. “It is not permissible for Facebook to keep a user off the platform for an undefined period, with no criteria for when or whether the account will be restored,” the board said in its decision.