One of the significant problems of digitalization that requires a political solution at the global level is the so-called digital divide (English – «digital divide», translation options and related terms: digital inequality, digital barrier, information inequality). The UN highlights the problem of digital inequality as a global one, and the Sustainable Development Goals indicate the need to provide the Internet as a significant component of the quality of life of people. The expansion of digitalization opportunities also brings a wide range of threats to states’ national security that have not sufficiently mastered this process. During the pandemic, less developed countries could not switch to a remote form of work and organization of the educational process using digital and information and communication technologies. In addition to intercountry digital inequality, intercountry inequality is an acute problem, which also contributes to threats to countries’ security. At the same time, digital inequality contributes to the destabilization of developed countries – about 7% of US citizens have never used the Internet; about 60% of US residents express fears about the lack of access to digital technologies for their children in education. In the UK and Germany, about 2 million families lack access to digital technology, and about 12 million people lack the skills to use it. The politicization makes an additional destabilizing contribution of digital platforms and the growing threats of hacking of personal accounts, violation of confidentiality, and insufficient provision of legislatively formulated liability for their violation. Securing data for many companies requires a significant investment, exacerbating the digital divide. The digital divide contributes to the growth of cyber scepticism, which also contributes to the destabilization of the internal situation in countries. The paper makes reasonable assumptions that the problem of digital inequality is most acutely explicitly manifested for Russia, a country with a heterogeneous level of access to digital technologies, digital skills of the population, traditionally external severe security challenges and the presence of problems with the technological support of digital sovereignty.
digitalization; digital inequality; cyber scepticism; digital platforms; quality of life; threats to national security.