Dear Iowa State Daily,

I am writing to you about the importance of Digital Equity. According to the NDIA (National Digital Inclusion Alliance), digital equity is defined as “a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy and economy. Digital Equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning and access to essential services.”

You may be wondering why I bring up this topic, and my reason is short and to the point. Without proper digital equity everywhere in our society, it will cause and has effected our democracy and the public opinions on candidates for office. 

I reference the article punished by The New York Times “Facebook wins, Democracy loses” as it has eye opening statistics over Russian based “bot ads” that “had run anti-Hillary Clinton ads precisely aimed at Facebook users whose demographic profiles implied a vulnerability to political propaganda” (Vaidhyanathan 1).

I bring up this article for my topic because there is already evidence in the last presidential election of First Amendment protected ads being run on social media to sway public opinion.

Once a voter already has an idea of the political ideals, anything filled with propaganda of their own beliefs will only add fuel to the fire of these thoughts. Most often the people who fall into this category are citizens who did not grow up with digital equity in their school system and therefore cannot recognize fake ads from a regular, fair political ad.

This is where I ask you for help. You are the media. You have the power to let digital equity be known and show what our problem in society is. It’s the first step in improving digital equity everywhere and for the future of our nation.