COVID-19 Made Digital Divide 'Monstrous,' Says Starks

“We have seen this digital divide morph into a monstrous COVID-19 divide," said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told the Rainbow Push Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund. The industry and agency’s failure to create inclusive policies are worsening the pandemic for Americans who were struggling when it hit, Starks said. “It is time -- in fact, it is past time -- for the tech and telecom sector to take account for issues of equity and fairness,” he said Thursday. Starks cited disparities in how COVID-19 affects minorities and how improved tech and telecom policy could address those problems by providing better access to telehealth and improving access to broadband to help Black-owned businesses digitize. “A disproportionate number of people of color do not have a home broadband connection,” Starks said. “The FCC must meet its obligation to promote ownership by women and people of color,” he said. He noted an NPRM on circulation (see 2010280062) would change FM booster rules to allow for geotargeted FM radio content that he said “holds the promise” to promote minority ownership. “It has the potential to provide a method for stations owned by socially disadvantaged groups to better serve their communities, create opportunities for small businesses to advertise in a more cost effective manner to a targeted audience, and for FM stations owned by people of color and women to increase advertising revenue,” Starks said. The NPRM “will soon be released,” he said.