The backlash against Big Tech has given political movements as diverse as populist nationalist conservatives and woke progressives a common cause. Occasionally political entrepreneurs try to catalyze a movement around this anti-Big Tech sentiment, writing manifestos calling for change. The latest one comes from a group called "People vs Big...
As smartphone adoption surges and wireless broadband becomes increasingly accessible, we're witnessing a major shift in the digital landscape. Internet-based platforms are rapidly overtaking traditional services, from Facebook and WhatsApp challenging conventional SMS and voice calls to streaming giants like Netflix disrupting traditional TV broadcasting. This shift is especially pronounced...
Does AI Need Governance? Examining the Political Economy of Machine Learning The Internet Governance Project (IGP) announces its 9th annual workshop, focused on the critical topic of AI governance and its implications for information and communications technology (ICT) policy. This year's event will bring together a diverse group of thought...
The U.S. District Court’s ruling that Google is a “monopoly” has been treated as a kind of bombshell that will redefine the digital economy. Most reporting takes the decision as having made some authoritative determination about Google’s market power. Having read the decision, however, we are shaking our head in...
Moody v NetChoice is an important new entry into the century-long debate over how new technology affects legal standards protecting free speech. It was decided July 1, 2024. The case began in 2021 when state legislatures in Florida and Texas, both dominated by conservative Republicans, passed laws regulating large social...
April 16, the Japanese government took action against LINE, the most popular messaging app in Japan, following a hacking incident in 2023 that compromised the data of 510,000 users. They issued unusual administrative guidance to LineYahoo, the company operating LINE in Japan, demanding a shareholder restructuring. This guidance called for...
As the global community grapples with various mis/disinformation laws, regulatory frameworks, community standards, and other governance efforts put forward by states, social media companies, and academia, the pivotal role of traditional media and journalists often slips under the radar. The article discusses information integrity efforts in East Asia, including digital...
Disinformation online, and how it might be addressed, remains a persistent challenge for civil society, firms, and states. Tomorrow, April 10, the National Academies of Sciences will begin a workshop on Evolving Technological, Legal and Social Solutions to Counter Disinformation in Social Media. The workshop will feature two days of...
We'd like to make the debate over a TikTok ban a bit more informative than it has been. Because the current law in the U.S. Congress is an unprecedented assertion of government control over a social media app, the stakes are too high to continue with simplistic "TikTok is digital...
OpenAI's recently launched GPT store potentially marks a significant shift in the global digital economy landscape, presenting a viable competitive threat to established platforms like Apple's App Store. Competition in the global digital economy is all about creating platforms that bring different sides of a market together to create value....
“In characteristically rigorous fashion, Mueller’s outstanding book punctures the alarmist myth of Internet fragmentation and helps us to understand what is really at stake as nations and other groups vie for power over the Internet.”
