The Digital Economy

Big Tech’s Fight Over Privacy: Could Facebook Win an Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple?

Do the new iOS 14 privacy features violate antitrust laws? If Facebook brings an antitrust suit against Apple, as it is reportedly considering, there...

Giving Away Our Data for Free is a Market Failure

By convincing users to give away their data for free, digital platforms have caused a market failure. This failure benefits them and harms us,...

False News Has a Long History—But Those In Power Failed To Heed It

In his book The Reality Game: How the Next Wave of Technology Will Break the Truth, Samuel Woolley explores how governments failed to foresee...

The Great Deplatforming: Can Digital Platforms Be Trusted As Guardians of Free Speech?

Online social media platforms accepted the role of moderating content from Congress in 1996. The Great Deplatforming that occurred after January 6 was less...

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 Digital Markets Act Represents a Change in Europe’s Approach to Digital Gatekeepers

The Digital Markets Act is not a competition tool as such. Rather, it is a market regulation whose main objective is to guarantee equal...

There Are Lots of Competition Problems on the Internet. Parler’s Takedown Is Not One of Them.

Parler’s antitrust case against Amazon is doomed, and there is no basis for Congress to impose any special duties on Amazon to deal with...

“An Offer We Can’t Refuse”: How We Gave Away Our Data and Made Big Tech What It Is Today

WhatsApp’s new terms of service should come as no surprise. For years, Big Tech has been offering its users these “take it or leave...

Paul Romer: “If You Think Moderation is Censorship, You’ve Got a Competition Problem”

During a Stigler Center keynote webinar, Nobel laureate Paul Romer discussed concentration problems in the US and possible solutions, including a “pigouvian” tax, flexible...

The “Next Frontier of Propaganda”: Micro-Influencers are Paid to Spread Political Messages, Disinformation

Online influencers aren’t in the business of promoting just products anymore. New research finds that micro-influencers are increasingly used to spread political messages and...

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