This Hotspot Kills Fascists: What Can the Dustbowl Troubadour Teach Us About Digital Equity?

The image of folk singer Woody Guthrie is iconic: a black and white photo of Woody with the words “this machine kills fascists” written across the soundboard of his acoustic guitar. The year was (circa) 1943 and the saying was used on the machines in factories making the munitions that were intended to literally kill the enemy in World War II.¹ 

But Woody was a musician — an artist-activist and self-described hobo. This Land is Your Land gave voice to the voiceless. Hard Travelin’ shined a light on the oppression of the working class. Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) exposed the plight of migrant workers invisible in plain sight. Talking Dust Bowl Blues brought empathy and dignity to those affected by the devastation of the Dust Bowl.

It is in the spirit of Guthrie’s metaphor that I like to think of the relatively inexpensive broadband internet hotspot as being similar in purpose to Woody’s humble guitar. 

I’d like to add that I, and 35 Mile Foundation, do not condone killing or violence. I’m merely drawing a comparison between a guitar and a hotspot as a symbol and tool for resistance.

Modern systems of oppression control reality by pulling the plug on the disconnected and flooding the ecosystem with digital misinformation. Mobile hotspots, affordable internet access, and the digital skills required to effectively use them have become the modern instruments of democratic resistance. Research clearly shows that digital equity serves as a powerful tool to combat those using power and technology to solidify their positions of control and undermine democracy and civic participation.

Defeating the "Access Divide" (The New Voter Suppression)

Voter suppression is certainly not a new tool in the arsenal of those wishing to remain in power and silence dissent. Digital exclusion now appears to be at the heart of this effort. Research shows a massive and quantifiable gap in civic participation between those who are online and those who are not:

• The Massive Turnout Gap: In the 2020 presidential election, 81% of internet users voted, compared to a sobering 56% of non-users.²
• Engineering Disengagement: Internet users are 13 percentage points more likely to report that they will "definitely vote" in future elections.³
• Late Adopters Might Never Make it to the Participation Party: Political organizations have shifted their mobilization strategies to be online, which limits the ability of late technology adopters to participate in civic environments.⁴

According to one study, when the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ceased in May 2024, more than 5 million broadband connections were terminated.⁵ When communities can no longer afford broadband, they lose more than just their internet access. They also lose their political voices. When communities are priced out of broadband, they can no longer register to vote online, research local ballot initiatives online, and find their local polling places. Broadband access and skills are more than just an electronic gadget and the know-how to point and click — they are a portable voter registration booth and path to the ballot box.

Guarding the Truth

Those in control can rely heavily on propaganda and the fragmented truth it presents. If you cannot verify information, you become vulnerable to curated and intentional chaos.

Large corporations are defining truth and shaping the political landscape of the United States. Platforms such as Meta have ended paid partnerships with independent fact-checkers and replaced them with crowdsourced systems.⁶ According to one study, 80% of teens on social media routinely encounter conspiracy theories and 81% of teens who saw those posts admit they were inclined to believe them.⁷

How do we fight back against a tidal wave of digital misinformation? 

• Digital Skills Over Mere Fact-Checking: Studies show that while traditional fact-checking only aids someone when they are evaluating a single specific instance, media literacy interventions allow someone to distinguish the veracity of information more generally.⁸
• The Power of the Reverse Search: As an example, users who learn a single digital skill, such as reverse image searches, can effectively counteract "cheapfakes" (out-of-context images used to incite political rage).⁹

Woody’s guitar would be useless in the hands of someone unable to play it. Why do we assume user competence when it comes to broadband access and online media consumption? Affordable internet access, combined with the digital skills to use it safely and confidently, equips people with the tools they need to demand evidence, expose propaganda for what it is, and hold bad actors accountable.

Building Local Accountability

Powerful people can undermine the very institutions we should be able to rely on as our community watchdogs. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributed federal money to local public radio and TV stations nationwide, was dissolved in January 2026. Commercial newspapers face market failure or consolidation. Meanwhile, political corruption frequently goes unchecked.

Equitable access to broadband connectivity and skills changes this dynamic through online participation. When all of us have reliable broadband access and the digital skills to use them, we have the ability to provide the kind of oversight that can influence public sector decisions.¹⁰

• Synergy: While digital access and online participation can both contribute to increased accountability, combined they can have an even greater influence.¹¹
• Building Trust: When everyone can participate, the accountability created can simultaneously bolster trust in public sector decision making, thereby strengthening a system of governance that is responsive to its citizens’ demands.¹²  
• Digital Accountability Defined: “Accordingly, digital accountability can be defined as the capacity of public institutions to uphold transparency, responsibility, and responsiveness through the strategic use of digital technologies.”¹³

The Modern Tool for Civic Engagement and Social Change

Those excluded from the digital world are primed for disenfranchisement. Low- and moderate-income communities pay a notably higher percentage of their income for broadband, often exceeding the FCC’s 2% affordability benchmark.¹⁴ In this scenario, broadband access is no longer a utility, it becomes a real roadblock to those wishing to exercise their civil rights. 

When federal subsidy programs like ACP are ripped out from underneath those that need them the most, millions are left disconnected. The constant precipitous termination of these programs leaves millions disconnected and facing interrupted access to jobs, healthcare, the classroom, and civic engagement platforms. With the stroke of a pen…poof. Digital equity projects prove that when someone has reliable, affordable broadband access and the skills to use that access safely and knowledgeably, their valuation of connectivity shifts. The value proposition of connectivity is directly related to one’s ability to use it.¹⁵

Woody Guthrie's 1936 Gibson guitar was made of wood and steel but became a powerful tool of resistance in his hands.

Guitars are still pretty cool, but the hotspot is today’s tool of resistance.

A Challenge to the Social Justice Sector

This message is not just for those actively working to narrow the digital divide or increase digital equity. This message is for anyone working in the social justice space. If you want to [insert your social justice cause], then affordable internet access, low-cost internet devices, and digital skills must be incorporated into your program. Equal access gives everyone the power to participate, organize, verify, and vote. 

Woody wrote and sang songs. Coupled with his guitar, he used his voice to champion the issues of others. Social justice organizations need to use their voices to support the people they serve with modern tools for civic engagement and to fight against those who want to keep them on the wrong side of the digital divide.

[If you are interested in learning more about Woody Guthrie, I highly recommend the documentary Man in the Sand, and the several volumes of Mermaid Avenue recordings by Billy Bragg and Wilco.]

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¹Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, UC Berkeley. 2024. “‘This Machine Kills Fascists’: A Survey of Anti-Fascist Form.” July 6. https://web.archive.org/web/20240706130438/https:/slavic.berkeley.edu/courses/this-machine-kills-fascists/.

²Terry, Lo. 2026. “How the Digital Divide Lowers Voter Participation Rates.” Human-I-T, March 4. https://www.human-i-t.org/digital-divide-impact-voting/.

³ Terry, Lo. 2026. “How the Digital Divide Lowers Voter Participation Rates.” Human-I-T, March 4. https://www.human-i-t.org/digital-divide-impact-voting/.

⁴Frey, Vincenz, Delia S. Baldassarri, and Francesco C. Billari. 2024. “Bridging the Digital Divide Narrows the Participation Gap: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment.” Sociological Science 11 (March): 214–32. https://doi.org/10.15195/v11.a9.

⁵Bazelon, Coleman, Paroma Sanyal, and Yong Paek. 2025. Paying for Itself: How the Affordable Connectivity Program Delivers More Than It Costs. Brattle Group. https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/new-brattle-study-finds-the-affordable-connectivity-program-pays-for-itself/.

⁶Newman, Nic, Amy Ross Arguedas, Craig T. Robertson, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, and Richard Fletcher. 2025. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025. Reuters Institute.

⁷The News Literacy Project. 2025. News Literacy in America - A Survey of Teen Information Attitudes, Habits and Skills (2024). The News Literacy Project. https://newslit.org/news-and-research/news-literacy-in-america/.

⁸Berger, Lara Marie, Anna Kerkhof, Felix Mindl, and Johannes Münster. 2025. “Debunking ‘Fake News’ on Social Media: Immediate and Short-Term Effects of Fact-Checking and Media Literacy Interventions.” Journal of Public Economics 245 (May): 105345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105345.

⁹ Qian, Sijia, Cuihua Shen, and Jingwen Zhang. 2023. “Fighting Cheapfakes: Using a Digital Media Literacy Intervention to Motivate Reverse Search of out-of-Context Visual Misinformation.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 28 (1): zmac024. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac024.

¹⁰Fırtın, Cemil Eren, Mert Akyuz, Ebru Tekin Bilbil, and Naci Karkin. 2026. “Digital Accountability through E-Participation: The Moderating Role of the Digital Divide.” Public Money & Management 46 (5): 610–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2025.2573784.

¹¹Fırtın, Cemil Eren, Mert Akyuz, Ebru Tekin Bilbil, and Naci Karkin. 2026. “Digital Accountability through E-Participation: The Moderating Role of the Digital Divide.” Public Money & Management 46 (5): 610–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2025.2573784.

¹²Fırtın, Cemil Eren, Mert Akyuz, Ebru Tekin Bilbil, and Naci Karkin. 2026. “Digital Accountability through E-Participation: The Moderating Role of the Digital Divide.” Public Money & Management 46 (5): 610–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2025.2573784.

¹³Fırtın, Cemil Eren, Mert Akyuz, Ebru Tekin Bilbil, and Naci Karkin. 2026. “Digital Accountability through E-Participation: The Moderating Role of the Digital Divide.” Public Money & Management 46 (5): 610–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2025.2573784.

¹⁴Nair, Ambika. 2025. Broadband Affordability: Assessing the Cost of Broadband for Low-and-Moderate Income Communities in Cities. Federal Reserve Bank of New York. https://www.newyorkfed.org/outreach-and-education/household-financial-stability/assessing-cost-of-broadband-for-low-and-moderate-income-communities.

¹⁵Y-Zone Project, and John Horrigan. 2023. Boosting Economic Opportunity and Workforce Skills in Yonkers: An Analysis of the Y-Zone Digital Equity Project. Y-Zone.