The Biden administration has suggested that Google and Facebook parent Meta get authorization to deploy an underwater cable connection to manage increased internet traffic with Asia.
The government petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to award the firm’s licenses to send and receive data across the existing 8000-mile (12,875-kilometer) Pacific Light Cable Network.
The system of underwater fiber-optic cables links the United States, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Subsea cables carry approximately all of the world’s internet data flow.
Meta requested authorization to utilize the Philippines-to-US section, while Google requested to link to Taiwan.
The firms pledged to defend Americans’ data privacy and security, particularly against Chinese spy operations.
Google and Meta’s plan abandons an earlier idea to use the network’s connection to Hong Kong, controlled by Beijing. Multiple US government bodies advised that the initiative be halted in 2020.
The Justice Department stated that the national security agreements with Google and Meta were required due to China’s “ongoing efforts to obtain sensitive personal data on millions of US citizens.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington and Google did not respond quickly.
Google stated in 2020 that the data links were required to accommodate increasing traffic between its data centers in Taiwan and the United States.
According to a Meta spokeswoman, the “cable infrastructure enhances internet bandwidth” between the United States and the Philippines “to enable people stay connected and exchange content.”
According to the company, the cables are safe, and data is secured by strong encryption. According to the agreements, Google and Meta must-do annual risk evaluations of sensitive data, and they must be able to restrict or terminate data transmission on the cables within 24 hours.
The internet’s backbone comprises around 300 subsea cables that transmit 99 percent of the world’s data traffic.