The laws around broadcasting and the retransmission of broadcast signals by cable and satellite companies are built up around a set of assumptions. One of the most basic is that individual broadcasters broadcast their signal to a specific geographic market where people can pick it up for free over the air, and pay TV providers […]

This is the fourth blog post in a series about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. You can view the full series here. Section 230 plays an important role in allowing sites with user-generated content to operate in general–since it shields them from most liability for third-party speech–while giving them the ability to moderate […]

This policy paper was originally published by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, where Gene Kimmelman is a Senior Fellow. It is now clear that antitrust enforcers are in full gear, from Europe to the United States and beyond, identifying actual or possible violations of law by companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon […]

Let me tell you a story about my attempts to get broadband internet access at my old apartment building. I had just finished law school and moved into a large corporate apartment in the Washington, D.C. area. After doing some research, I picked the broadband and cable plan that was best for me and my […]

It should go without saying, but it’s worth shouting from the rooftops every now and then: Libraries are important! While all libraries, from the largest city libraries to the smallest local libraries, provide a diverse array of vital community services, perhaps their most important role is to preserve culturally and historically valuable works and to […]

By this time you may have already read about Libra, Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency, and all the fuss about its relation to Facebook. Many questions have been coming up: Is Libra a payment instrument? Who is behind it? Why should we trust Facebook? Moreover, the European Union may be already investigating a potential anticompetitive behavior related to Libra. Although […]

In a recent podcast episode, economist Luigi Zingales related a joke familiar in tech circles: “Why did it take police years to find the body?” “It was buried on page two of Google’s search results!” The witticism rings all too true to internet users. We know that our likelihood of selecting a digital pathway is based […]

You can watch Harold Feld and Lindsay Stern present oral arguments for the case discussed below tomorrow at 9 a.m. PDT here. Across the nation, surprised Americans are waking to discover that their copper line — this landmark technology once used to connect America to the telephone system — doesn’t work. These unfortunate Americans are no longer […]

Almost a year ago today I unpacked my bags, put up my last poster in my dorm room, and prepared for my first day as a college student. One of the first items on my to-do list -- apart from figuring out where my classes were -- was buying the textbooks I would need for my classes. As I opened my laptop and looked up the titles I was shocked at what I was seeing. A mix of required readings that individually cost more than the concert ticket I had been saving up for. Apart from traditional print titles, I was equally amazed that some classes required books that were solely online -- none of which I would own, but rather would have access to for a limited amount of time.

Last week, Politico reported that the White House was considering a potential “Executive Order” (EO) to address the ongoing-yet-unproven allegations of pro-liberal, anti-conservative bias by giant Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google. (To the extent that there is rigorous research by AI experts, it shows that social media sites are more likely to flag posts by self-identified African Americans as “hate speech” than identical wording used by whites.) Subsequent reports by CNN and The Verge have provided more detail. Putting the two together, it appears that the Executive Order would require the Federal Communications Commission to create regulations designed to create rules limiting the ability of digital platforms to “remove or suppress content” as well as prohibit “anticompetitive, unfair or deceptive” practices around content moderation. The EO would also require the Federal Trade Commission to somehow open a docket and take complaints (something it does not, at present, do, or have capacity to do – but I will save that hobby horse for another time) about supposed political bias claims.