Can Facebook bring internet access to the entire world?

The tech giant is trying — and it's using lasers and drones

Facebook envisions a fully connected world.
(Image credit: Simone Golob/Corbis)

Since 2011, the United Nations has considered internet access a basic human right. So why can so few people get online? Only 3.2 billion people, or roughly 43 percent of the world's population, can access the internet today. In the world's least developed countries, that number drops to only 9.5 percent.

Facebook wants to change that. For years, the company has called for broader web access, citing technology's ability to spark broad social and economic progress. Recently it took an important step forward in its efforts, revealing a gigantic data project that used artificial intelligence to figure out who likely has internet access — and even more significantly, who doesn't. Identifying the latter will make it easier to decide where technology is needed and how to deliver it most effectively.

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Erin Blakemore

Erin Blakemore is a journalist from Boulder, Colorado. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Time, Smithsonian.com, mental_floss, Popular Science and more.