free speech
Would Content Collusion Among Social Media Companies Be Such a Bad thing?
Mark MacCarthy writes that the case law supports Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson’s charge that collaboration by social media companies on content moderation practices would be anticompetitive collusion. However, the author argues that open and transparent cooperation might actually benefit a troubled internet, and Congress should consider carving out a content-neutral antitrust exemption for platforms in the way it has in the past for broadcast networks.
What Happens When Billionaires Control the News You Read
Utsav Gandhi explores how billionaire media owners, from Musk to Bezos, are influencing newsrooms, altering editorial policies, and reshaping the future of press freedom...
The TikTok Ban Is a Case Study in American Political Economy 101
Utsav Gandhi relates recent developments in the American government’s ban on TikTok and shows how the case maps over broader debates about conflicts between...
Social Media Should Not Be Gatekeepers
Ashutosh Bhagwat argues in new research that expecting social media platforms to serve as gatekeepers for the “truth” flounders on economic, organizational, and democratic grounds. In fact, the end of media gatekeepers and elite control over public discourse may be what is necessary to reinvigorate the marketplace of ideas and reduce political polarization.
Economists Agree That Stronger Legal Liability for Online Platforms Would Reduce Disinformation
Will increasing the liability of internet platforms mitigate disinformation? Economists weighed in on the effects of limiting or repealing protections for Big Tech through a recent survey from the Forum for the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets—previously the Initiative on Global Markets—at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
What Citizens United Did Not Predict and Why It’s Time To Reconsider
Citizens United v. FEC stands in the public eye as the U.S. Supreme Court case that flooded U.S. elections with “dark money” and SuperPACs....
Digital Platforms May Be Monopolistic Providers, But They Are Not Infrastructure
Social media platforms are not infrastructure nor natural monopolies, and they should be regulated only if they have monopolistic power and abuse it. Free...
The Silent Coup
President Donald Trump's seditious actions are exposing the political power that Twitter, Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook enjoy. Banning him from their platforms sets...
“A Loaded Weapon”: Francis Fukuyama on the Political Power of Digital Platforms
In an interview with ProMarket, Francis Fukuyama discusses the political threat posed by digital platforms and why he believes a “middleware” solution would be...
Here Is What American History Can Teach Us About the Interplay Between Free Speech and Democracy
The United States has a long and unfortunate history of overreacting in moments of perceived crisis. Time and again, we have suppressed dissent, imprisoned...
