MORE than 6 billion people — 73.2 percent of the global population — are now online, according to a study by the media intelligence company, Meltwater, and the international marketing agency, We Are Social.

The Digital 2026 Global Overview Report also noted that there are 5.66 billion social media users worldwide, making them a “supermajority.”

The average user spends more than 2.5 hours per day on social and video platforms. YouTube has the biggest global user base, but TikTok remains the most engaging platform, with users spending 1 hour and 37 minutes daily on its Android app.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has crept into almost every aspect of daily life, with more than 1 billion people using AI-driven apps monthly. ChatGPT alone has reached 800 million weekly users, “underscoring how quickly the technology has entered the mainstream.”

The spectacular rise in global internet use could be hailed as a transformational moment, but an earlier report by the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, highlights accompanying issues that persist.

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In its Facts and Figures 2024, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, said even as connectivity continues to spread, communities in low-income countries remain on the other side of the digital divide.

One-third of the world’s population remains offline. “Facts and Figures 2024 is a tale of two digital realities between high-income and low-income countries,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “Stark gaps in critical connectivity indicators are cutting off the most vulnerable people from online access to information, education and employment opportunities.”

“This report is a reminder that true progress in our interconnected world isn’t just about how fast we move forward, but about making sure everyone moves forward together,” Bogdan-Martin said.

In high-income countries, 93 percent of the population used the internet in 2024. In low-income countries, usage was a dismal 27 percent.

Internet affordability remains a challenge. ITU found that the cost of a fixed-broadband subscription in low-income countries is the equivalent of nearly a third of the average monthly income.

In the late 1990s, the world began to recognize the potential of the internet as an indispensable tool for communication, education, commerce and personal self-expression.

Early on, the digital divide was mostly seen as “a dichotomous problem: people were either granted internet access or they were not,” Prof. Landry Signé, a senior fellow in global economy and development, wrote in an article for the Brookings Institution in 2023.

Discussion was focused “on the physical capacity of individuals to establish an internet connection, generally assessed by the presence of fundamental internet infrastructure in various areas. Nevertheless, this oversimplified perspective failed to consider the underlying, more intricate inequalities that were at play, such as the quality of internet connectivity and the proficiency in its use.”

The digital divide gives rich countries the power to shape the digital future, “leaving more and more of the perspectives and concerns of developing countries out of the conversation,” Signe said.

Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, shares Signe’s concern. “The world is inching towards universal access at a time that it should be sprinting,” Zavazava said. “While we continue to make progress on connectivity, our advances mask significant gaps in the world’s most vulnerable communities, where digital exclusion makes life even more challenging.”

“We must intensify our efforts to remove the barriers that keep people offline and close the usage gap, and renew our commitment to achieving universal and meaningful connectivity, so that everyone can access the internet,” Zavazava said.

To close the gap, technology expert Dr. Deepak Kem proposes “a thorough and extended plan that goes further than just infrastructure and also emphasizes digital skills and purposeful interaction with technology.”

People must be provided “with the ability to navigate, assess and produce in the digital realm, enabling them to actively engage in contemporary society,” Kem said.

Only then can we create a digital society “that is more equitable and inclusive, allowing everyone to access the positive effects of technology regardless of their backgrounds.”

Failure to do so will reinforce social and economic inequalities.

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