Ensuring connectivity and computer equipment for schools should be prioritized, with equitable treatment of schools attended by majorities and minorities. Students from disadvantaged groups should be given preferential access to digital devices to support their learning; for example, access to computer rooms after school, the loan of internet-enabled devices and loans for hiring or purchasing computer equipment.144 Digital inclusion policies should also target small and medium-sized businesses, which are often less digitalized than their larger competitors and thus less able to benefit from the digital economy.145 The elderly should also receive support, as they may be particularly affected when health-care, financial and other services rely on digital technologies. 24. States should put in place specific measures to promote the digital inclusion of minority language speakers and multilingual border regions. Digital applications and online content rely on specific language interfaces, including for features such as character and word recognition. State and official languages are more likely to be used in digital applications, online content and search algorithms because of the national markets that they guarantee for software and content producers. Consequently, speakers of minority languages are generally less able to access and use digital applications and online content. Such disparities reinforce digital divides and impede efforts aimed at both digital inclusion and societal integration more generally. Digital technologies, with their potential to be used to stoke tensions as well as their potential as tools for fostering dialogue and understanding, play an important role in conflict prevention. The specific digital access needs of speakers of minority languages and those living in multilingual border regions should be recognized and addressed in digital inclusion strategies. Such strategies should include providing digital skills training in minority languages, as well as ensuring access to digital applications and online content available in minority languages. Notwithstanding the development of translation software and mobile applications, such technology may not be sufficient to ensure that persons belonging to national minorities are able to access content appropriate to their identity and culture in minority languages. 144 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), “Leveraging Digital Technologies for Social Inclusion”, Policy Brief No. 92, February 2021. 145 OECD, Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, “The Digital Transformation of SMEs”, 3 February 2021. Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Social and Economic Life 53