A large stone carved head sculpture partially covered in lichen and moss, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation and tall palms.

How can we continue designing online safety policies for a digital world that doesn’t exist, one where every child has reliable internet, a personal device, and digital literacy? After a month studying online safety in Puerto Rico, I discovered that our most urgent conversations are happening in a vacuum.

In San Juan, I met with various stakeholders from the public policy sector, non-profits, and the private sector. Through these interviews, I learned that for some children in Puerto Rico, digital engagement meant standing on a bridge to catch enough signal for a Zoom class, while for others in the metropolitan area, it meant learning to navigate AI-powered reading software in their classrooms. Both happening within the same U.S. territory.

This wasn’t just a digital divide; it was a complete fracturing of what we mean when we say ‘online safety.’ How can we continue using this catch-all term when children on the same island are living entirely different technological lives? One child’s experience is literally finding a physical location where the internet exists, while another’s is handling sophisticated AI that’s reshaping how they learn to read. Before imagining solutions, we must first understand the systems that created the digital conditions young people now navigate in Puerto Rico.

By centering Puerto Rico in digital safety research, we can examine how infrastructure vulnerabilities, climate impacts, and economic constraints intersect to affect children’s online experiences.

Methods

Prior to conducting this qualitative study, I worked with my lab to identify communities on the island whose perspectives could help build a well-rounded understanding of children’s digital lives. This included people within the education system, public policy officials focused on technological systems, nonprofit organizations, and those working in the private technology industry.

I also attended a conference that brought together professionals from law and private industry to discuss AI trends and integration in Puerto Rico. Throughout our conversations about online safety, I kept hearing about systematic factors influencing the experiences of children. These included the central role of infrastructure, the accessibility of that infrastructure, and the routine interruptions to infrastructure.

Infrastructure

In the center of the island, internet accessibility is hindered by the topography. The island’s center is characterized by dense forests, mountains, and valleys, which serve as geographic barriers that particularly impact broadband infrastructure deployment. The mountainous landscape of Puerto Rico significantly impacts the digital divide, resulting in a lack of broadband internet access for many residents.

However, this is not a problem exclusive to the island. Some regions of the mainland United States also face significant gaps in broadband access. In New York State, rural areas are particularly affected. For instance, in the North Country region, 5.0% of the population lacks broadband access. In predominantly rural counties, such as Allegany, there are gaps as high as 23.4%. Due to sparse rural populations and challenging geography, private broadband deployment is considered economically unfeasible, as it’s predicted that these areas cannot generate sufficient revenue to cover infrastructure costs. These communities then face significant gaps in broadband availability, requiring substantial public investment.

Although this is a shared challenge faced by both the mainland US and Puerto Rico, the island faces an exceptional disadvantage, as the US FCC regulates its telecommunications infrastructure, limiting local control. In 2024, Puerto Rico was allocated $334.6 million from the BEAD program to improve connectivity (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2024); however, in 2025, that allocation was rescinded under the NTIA’s BEAD Restructuring Policy, requiring the island to revise its proposal and reapply under new federal guidelines. These funding inconsistencies, combined with additional oversight from the Financial Oversight and Management Board established by PROMESA, impose stricter regulatory hurdles not faced by U.S. states. As a result, Puerto Rico’s broadband efforts are constrained by both inconsistent funding and more burdensome federal oversight.

Access to Infrastructure

While 76.7% of households in Puerto Rico report having broadband access, San Juan has sharp income and infrastructure-based divides. Affluent neighborhoods like Santurce have a mean household income of $56,108 (median: $23,107), compared to lower-income Hato Rey Central, at $33,723 (median: $19,302) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023b; U.S. Census Bureau, 2023c). As of 2024, both areas have access to fiber providers offering speeds of up to 4000 Mbps, but lower-income neighborhoods have more limited high-speed cable options. These infrastructure disparities intersect with broader socioeconomic trends, as 4,286 Act 60 beneficiaries have relocated to Puerto Rico since 2012, concentrating in the very neighborhoods with the strongest broadband coverage.

A similar situation exists in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where almost half of the households lack a broadband subscription. Among those who are connected, many experience slower and less reliable service compared to wealthier neighborhoods. Although residents pay similar rates for internet access, they face a significant digital accessibility gap that hinders their opportunities for remote work, education, and other activities that rely on high-speed internet. This highlights how digital divides emerge when infrastructure investments prioritize affluent neighborhoods, leaving lower-income communities at a systemic disadvantage.

Act 60’s extension through 2055 with a 4% tax rate for new applicants ensures that Puerto Rico will remain an attractive destination for wealthy mainlanders. Beneficiaries of these initiatives are likely to continue clustering in affluent neighborhoods with strong fiber infrastructure, leaving lower-income communities behind. This policy risks reinforcing a two-tier digital economy, with well-connected areas with high-speed connectivity attracting newcomers while historic Puerto Rican communities being forced to utilize lagging, slow service. The result is a digital ecosystem where tax incentives accelerate wealth concentration and further exacerbate unequal access to fast and reliable internet.

Disruption

Due to its location in the hurricane-prone Caribbean and between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, the island experiences a range of natural phenomena, making it highly vulnerable to repeated technological destruction. Hurricane Maria in 2017 destroyed the island’s power grid and telecommunications, leaving residents without electricity, phone, or internet for months. The storm’s winds were strongest along the steep ridges and hills, where power lines and cell towers were located, causing significant damage to this infrastructure. Three years later, in January 2020, earthquakes resulted in nearly one million power outages and the loss of almost a third of cell sites . More recently, in 2024, Tropical Storm Ernesto cut power to almost half the island’s residents, with almost total blackout conditions in vulnerable municipalities like Culebra and Vieques, while a December 2024 underground cable fault left much of the island without electricity for at least 18+ hours, highlighting the ongoing vulnerability of Puerto Rico’s technological infrastructure.

Similar incidents have occurred in various regions of the United States, including Hawaii. Hawaii also experiences a range of natural disasters, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tsunamis, and flooding. However, major disasters affecting Hawaii’s infrastructure tend to be more regional and are usually followed by faster recovery periods. For example, on August 8, 2023, a wildfire ignited near Lahaina, Maui, and, fueled by dry conditions and strong winds, caused catastrophic destruction by evening. The fire damaged power lines and communication towers, knocking out all 21 cell sites in West Maui, including areas like Kapalua and Lahaina, and disrupting 911 services. In response, telecom providers deployed mobile assets and satellite terminals, restoring connectivity for residents and emergency responders within days. The FCC, in coordination with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), monitored communications using the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) and DIRS-Lite, deactivating the latter on August 25, 2023, following a significant restoration of services.

These opposite experiences show fundamental differences in disaster resilience between the two areas. Puerto Rico’s infrastructure faces a compounding crisis, where disasters occur with greater frequency and before full recovery from the previous disaster is complete, creating a cycle of deterioration aggravated by decades of deferred maintenance, financial constraints, and slower federal response times associated with its territorial status. Puerto Rico customers have experienced an average of 27 hours of power outages annually between 2021 and 2024, compared to just two hours for the U.S. average, along with repeated island-wide blackouts and persistent communication disruptions. These conditions suggest that Puerto Rico’s challenge is not only the frequency or intensity of natural disasters, but also the ongoing struggle to recover fully between these events. This leaves residents in a constant state of vulnerability that worsens with each disaster.

Conclusion

Despite these ongoing challenges, Puerto Rico demonstrates extraordinary resilience. The individuals I interviewed exhibited warmth and optimism even while discussing substantial hardships, highlighting a community committed to addressing these issues. While this research initially focused on children’s online safety, it revealed the broader systemic challenges facing the island, particularly the critical need for adequate funding, attention, and resources from the federal government. Organizations and individuals on the island are actively working to address these challenges, though, and their efforts deserve greater support and recognition from the broader academic community and the general public.

By centering Puerto Rico in digital safety research, we can examine how infrastructure vulnerabilities, climate impacts, and economic constraints intersect to affect children’s online experiences in a diverse, bilingual, and territorial context that is often overlooked in digital safety scholarship. These challenges, including infrastructure disparities favoring wealthy neighborhoods, inconsistent federal funding and oversight, and the impact of natural disasters on connectivity, reflect nationwide patterns of digital inequality that are amplified in Puerto Rico. By examining Puerto Rico, we can see how digital inequalities happen under real-world pressures, offering insight for creating stronger, fairer, and more practical online safety policies.

This work was made possible by the Einaudi Center and the Cornell Graduate School for their generous support in covering the expenses related to my fieldwork. I also want to extend my gratitude to my lab for their encouragement throughout this research.

Please visit my LinkedIn profile or email me to learn more about my work and connect professionally.

References