• D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
Semafor Logo
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG


US lawmakers want private sector to provide internet to people in authoritarian states

Dec 20, 2024, 7:11am EST
politicsNorth America
A launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink V2 Mini satellites
Mike Blake/File Photo/Reuters
PostEmailWhatsapp
Title icon

The News

US lawmakers want the State Department to tap the private sector for help in exposing repressed communities around the world to the internet.

A group of House China select committee members wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Agency for Global Media chief Amanda Bennett, urging the sponsorship of a “federal prize competition” that would encourage satellite technology companies to build systems to connect people living under authoritarian leaders or in war-torn countries to the internet, as a way to advance human rights globally.

The letter name-checks companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and SpaceX as already working in this space, arguing that a competition would increase the pool of companies and ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted.

AD

“The value of access to untainted information cannot be understated,” reads the letter led by Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., and signed by China committee leaders.

AD
AD