About one in five Pennsylvania households doesn’t have a broadband internet subscription, with many rural counties having low coverage. Now broadband could get a historic investment through the infrastructure bill making its way through Congress. Pennsylvania could receive $100 million to expand broadband infrastructure and subsidize service and devices for families who have access but can’t afford it, such as low-income families in Philadelphia. In rural areas, the issue is also structural — there simply isn’t enough population density to incentivize setting up the pipes and towers needed. For many people living without high-speed internet in rural areas, broadband access isn’t a political issue; more money to get people online could significantly change lives. “The digital divide doesn’t care what party you’re in or what area of the country you live in,” said Amy Huffman, policy director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. “It impacts everyone and therefore it impacts all of our lawmakers, no matter what side of the aisle.” And while there’s some disagreement over how to expand broadband, there’s no disagreement about why it's important and needs to be funded.

With many school districts continuing to look for ways to help students who don’t have robust internet service at home maximize their learning potential, Charter Communications announced that the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is deploying the Spectrum Enterprise Stay Connected K-12 solution as a multi-year solution. Stay Connected K-12 provides schools the ability to offer high-speed, cable broadband internet access directly to their students in their own homes so learning and teaching are uninterrupted. Students’ families are not billed for the service. More than 5,300 families are anticipated to participate initially. Through the program, users have access to download speeds up to 50 Mbps, in-home WiFi, unlimited data usage, self-installation kits, and 24/7 support. Stay Connected K-12 also maximizes flexibility for districts, allowing them to add students to the program when needed, with no minimum term commitment on any of the connections. Charter has connected thousands of students and educators through Stay Connected K-12 agreements throughout its 41-state footprint, and is working with officials at the CMSD to connect students quickly.

The Federal Trade Commission filed an amended complaint against Facebook in the agency’s ongoing federal antitrust case. The complaint alleges that after repeated failed attempts to develop innovative mobile features for its network, Facebook instead resorted to an illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance. It unlawfully acquired innovative competitors with popular mobile features that succeeded where Facebook’s own offerings fell flat or fell apart. To further moat its monopoly, Facebook lured app developers to the platform, surveilled them for signs of success, and then buried them when they became competitive threats. Lacking serious competition, Facebook has been able to hone a surveillance-based advertising model and impose ever-increasing burdens on its users. The FTC filed the amended complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, following the court’s June 28 ruling on the FTC’s initial complaint. The amended complaint includes additional data and evidence to support the FTC’s contention that Facebook is a monopolist that abused its excessive market power to eliminate threats to its dominance. The FTC’s Office of General Counsel carefully reviewed Facebook’s petition to recuse Chair Lina Khan. As the case will be prosecuted before a federal judge, the appropriate constitutional due process protections will be provided to the company. The Office of the Secretary has dismissed the petition.