Is the Pandemic Deepening the Digital Divide?

Considering the lack of digital infrastructure and digital literacy for large parts of the world’s population, it seems inevitable that the pandemic will reinforce the digital divide. For digital access, mobile phone and mobile internet usage have been sharply rising in all world regions, but stark inequalities between social groups persist. Especially the usage of actual computers and fixed broadband subscriptions differs widely between mostly urban, better-equipped social groups and groups with less access elsewhere. It is precisely these missing computers and home internet connections that are essential for productive remote work. The pandemic may initially deepen the existing digital divide and it runs the risk of buttressing digital authoritarianism. But it also opens up new opportunities for some of the better equipped and better educated in the urban centres of the Global South. To mitigate the immediate crisis, governments of the Global South, together with their partner organisations, should champion anonymised contact tracing apps, and then broaden citizens’ digital options, making access to broadband internet cheaper and market entry for online firms and workers easier.