The Digital Divide Is a Human Rights Issue: Advancing Social Inclusion Through Social Work Advocacy

The role of technology and importance of access to high-speed broadband has become glaringly obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. High-speed Internet is a tool people rely upon to conduct the daily business of their life and interact with each other, the economy, and government. However, millions of people in the USA still have no home access to high-speed Internet. Low-income, people of color, older, Native Americans, and rural residents in particular are on the wrong side of the digital divide. This structural reality perpetuates social, economic, and political disparities. Consistent with a social work human rights approach, the United Nations General Assembly declared access to the Internet a basic human right in 2016. This calls upon social workers to engage in advocacy efforts to advance policy and programs to alleviate the digital divide. In this article, we examine the digital divide in the USA and discuss why it is a social justice and human rights issue. We provide a policy context and recent examples of state or local policy initiatives to reduce the digital divide. Prominent among them is California's Internet for All Now Act. We also identify and share promising practices and advocacy tools being used in the field that provide guidance to community practitioners as they engage in work at state and local levels aimed at closing the digital divide.