Jessica Melugin is director of the Center for Technology & Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Her research focuses on technology issues including antitrust, online privacy, Internet taxation, telecommunications, social media content and net neutrality regulation. Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, Bloomberg Law, National Review, Forbes, Fortune, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, FoxNews.com, CNBC.com, various regional papers. She has been cited in The Washington Post, Politico, U.S. News and World Report and Variety, among many other publications. Ms. Melugin has appeared on Fox News, CSPAN’s Washington Journal, CNBC’s Power Lunch, and Varney & Co. on Fox Business Network. She’s been featured on NPR’s Marketplace, The David Webb Show on SiriusXM, and is regularly interviewed on terrestrial radio programs.
She is a 2022 Innovators Network Foundation Antitrust and Competition Policy Fellow.
Ms. Melugin graduated magna cum laude from Claremont McKenna College, with a degree in government and art history. Her honors thesis explored the development of American antitrust law as it pertains to the Microsoft trial. She lives in Virginia’s horse country with her children.
Authored by Jessica Melugin
News
New CEI Paper Warns Against Turning Back the Clock on Antitrust Merger Guidelines
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) published a new paper today reviewing the evolution of merger screening at federal antitrust agencies and warning against…
CEI TV Ad “Versus” to Run Sunday During NBC’s Meet the Press as Part of Eye on FTC Campaign
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will run a 30 second television ad as part of its Eye on FTC campaign on Sunday,…
CEI Launches “Eye on FTC” Campaign to Raise Awareness of Agency Overreach and Lack of Transparency
WASHINGTON—The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) launched a new “Eye on FTC” educational campaign today to raise awareness about overreach and a lack of…
Blog
When the Policy is This Bad, Politics Might Be the Only Explanation
- By: Jessica Melugin
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently proposed a tech agenda as his “Digital Bill of Rights” for the state’ blessedly short 60-day legislative session. While there…
Trust, but Verify via Congressional Oversight
- By: Jessica Melugin
Is the Federal Trade Commission’s request that Twitter hand over the names of “all journalists and other members of the media to whom” the social…
Some Things are Just Business, Not Politics – and That’s a Good Thing
- By: Jessica Melugin
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was the predictable venue for Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy to portrait DirecTV’s recent decision to stop carrying the channel…
Op-Eds/Articles
National Review
Not-So-Quietly Quitting: Wilson’s Resignation a Canary in the Coal Mine of the FTC
- By: Jessica Melugin
FTC commissioner Christine Wilson made the most of her resignation announcement in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Her thoughtful…
National Review
The FTC Soda Wars
- By: Jessica Melugin
The Federal Trade Commission’s new probe into the pricing practices of Coke and Pepsi is the latest step in the agency’s march away from protecting consumers.
MarketWatch
Opinion: Two App Stores Don’t Make a Monopoly
- By: Jessica Melugin
Elon Musk and others’ complaints about the fees Apple and Google ‘s App Stores charge developers are putting pressure…
Studies
Don’t Confuse the Platform with the Train
Executive Summary Should social media companies be regulated like common carriers? To answer that question, this paper describes the functions and origins of social media…
Preserving Section 230 Is Key to Maintaining the Free and Open Internet
- By: Jessica Melugin
Passed as part of the Telecommunications Decency Act of 1996, Section 230 was intended to clarify liability rules online and to encourage sites to create…
U.S. Antitrust’s Greatest Misses
- By: Jessica Melugin
Today’s advocates for expanding antitrust regulation often cite famous antitrust cases of the past to suggest that stricter antitrust enforcement can enhance consumer welfare,…
Citations
Fox Business
AI startup Cohere in talks to raise funding at $6B plus valuation
- By: Jessica Melugin
Cohere, an AI foundation model company that competes with Microsoft-backed OpenAI, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a…
The Well News
Justice Dept. Sues Google Again Alleging Monopolistic Ad Tactics
- By: Jessica Melugin
A Justice Department lawsuit filed Tuesday against Google accuses the Internet giant of illegally acting like a monopoly with its digital advertising technology. The lawsuit filed…
Reason
DOJ Antitrust Suit Seeks To End Google Ad Dominance. The Market Is Already Taking Care of That.
- By: Jessica Melugin
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed another civil antitrust suit against Google. This one accuses the company of maintaining an illegal monopoly on various aspects…