Research

The news about “fake news” is not good. Large majorities of the American public believe that traditional media outlets engage in reporting fake news and that outside sources are actively trying to plant fake stories in the mainstream media. When it comes to the meaning of “fake news,” a majority believe that it involves editorial decisions as well as inaccurate reporting. The public feels that social media platforms are partly to blame for the spread of fake news and are not doing enough to stop it.

A growing portion of internet users rely solely on mobile devices such as smartphones for their online access. The percentage of “mobile-only” households increased from 9% in 2011 to 20% in 2015, more than doubling in only four years. As this shift continues, it leads to the question of what factors are driving the rise in mobile-only adoption. Using nationally representative data, this study uses logistic regressions and a decomposition technique to understand the trend.

The Office of Government Information Services Empowerment Act (H.R. 5253) would amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to permit the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) to access records it needs from all agencies. (OGIS is part of the National Archives and Records Administration.) The office acts as a FOIA ombudsman, and it reviews FOIA policies and procedures and identifies steps to improve compliance with that act. CBO expects that any budgetary effects from implementing H.R.

As the Federal Communications Commission in the Trump era dismantles vital rules protecting net neutrality and users’ privacy, Americans need an internet provider that they can trust and is accountable to the public, not profits.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and federal agencies have taken steps to improve the management of information technology (IT) acquisitions and operations through a series of initiatives, to include (1) data center consolidation, (2) implementation of incremental development practices, (3) approval of IT acquisitions, (4) implementation of key IT workforce practices, and (5) addressing aging legacy IT systems. As of March 2018, the agencies had fully implemented about 59 percent of the approximately 800 related recommendations that GAO made during fiscal years 2010 through 2015.

This paper examines differences in fixed location broadband adoption rates among households of various demographic and socio-economic characteristics and in different geographic locations utilizing the Federal Communications Commission's census tract level adoption data, demographic data from American Community Survey and the census block level broadband availability data from National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Ordered probit models are estimated and used to conduct simulations in order to analyze the determinants of the broadband adoption rate.

[Research] Why the government’s case against the AT&T-Time Warner merger is both warranted and consistent with past enforcement practices. The case is necessary to prevent possible coordination among dominant firms that would likely thwart the development and expansion of innovative online video platforms as well as cheaper alternatives to traditional cable and satellite services.

The digital divide is the most critical issue of the 21st century – so this report sets out to talk about why it’s so critical and how we can close the divide. Why do we need to close the digital divide?

We investigated the differential diffusion of all of the verified true and false news stories distributed on Twitter from 2006 to 2017. The data comprise ~126,000 stories tweeted by ~3 million people more than 4.5 million times. We classified news as true or false using information from six independent fact-checking organizations that exhibited 95 to 98% agreement on the classifications.

This updated analysis revisits the pioneering research approach first developed in 2010, which highlights countries that are leading on a global basis in their deployment and use of broadband applications and content; devices; and networks. In 2018, these top-tier countries are China, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada (listed by population size).