Marginalized ethnic groups have poorer internet access even in the same country

Around the world, marginalized ethnic groups have worse internet access than more dominant groups in the country, researchers say. This is probably because of decisions made by government-run telecom providers.

Researchers mapped internet access and compared that to a list of ethnic settlement regions to show that less powerful ethnic groups have worse access, in a study published today in Science. It turns out that an excluded group usually receives about 60 percent of the average level of access across groups in the same country; its members are also more likely to have no internet access at all. That’s even after taking into account factors like wealth and whether these groups live in a remote area.

The internet is supposed to be a...