Last Updated: September 01, 2026
The American Communication and Information Act
In the 21st century, internet access isn’t luxury—it’s essential infrastructure for jobs, education, healthcare, and democratic participation. 42 million Americans lack broadband. Rural communities, tribal lands, and low-income urban neighborhoods have been abandoned by private telecom companies. This ends now.
What it includes:
- Universal broadband as essential service requiring coverage for all Americans
- $150 billion infrastructure investment for fiber optic and 5G buildout to every community
- Public option internet service where private companies have failed to serve
- Media ownership limits: No company can control more than 10% of local news market
- Public media expansion: 10x increase in PBS/NPR funding ($5B annually)
- Local journalism grants: Federal support for investigative reporting in underserved communities
- Media literacy education: Grants to states for teaching critical thinking and source evaluation in K-12 schools
- Adult Digital Citizenship Initiative: Local digital literacy workshops funded at public libraries and senior centers to teach verification skills (reverse-image search, source tracking) to adult and senior populations
- Public Information Integrity Office: An independent, non-partisan, CBO-style agency that monitors large-scale foreign and domestic disinformation campaigns and publishes factual counter-speech alerts, without any censorship or takedown powers
What this means for you:
- Every American home gets high-speed internet access
- Rural areas finally get reliable cell service
- Local news returns to communities where hedge funds killed newspapers
- Quality, non-partisan news available to all via public media
- Students learn how to identify credible sources and resist misinformation
- Adults and seniors get local, hands-on training to spot online scams, fake news, and algorithmic manipulation
- A trusted, non-partisan office exposes coordinated disinformation campaigns in real time without censoring speech
Constitutional grounding:
- Precedent: Rural Electrification Act (1936) brought electricity to all Americans
- Commerce Clause authority for interstate communication infrastructure
- Public media = government speech (constitutionally protected)
- Ownership limits = antitrust enforcement (clearly constitutional)
Why private sector has failed:
- Rural areas unprofitable (low population density, high infrastructure costs)
- Companies take government subsidies, don’t deliver promised coverage
- Media consolidation: Sinclair owns 185+ TV stations, iHeartMedia owns 850+ radio stations
- Local journalism destroyed: 1,800+ communities lost newspapers since 2004