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 and 2023 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
Surgeon General lacks evidence for warning against social media for young people
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy today issued a public advisory against alleged risks of social media use to the mental health of…
EU’s Massive Fine Against Meta Could End Up Harming European Consumers
The European Union announced a new enforcement actions today against Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The action penalizes Meta for data transfers that…
Supreme Court Declines to Rule on Section 230, Leaving Protections for Third Party Content in Place
The Supreme Court today in Google v. Gonzales and Twitter v. Taamneh declined to rule on the meaning of Section 230 of the…
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
Washington Examiner
Effort to limit children’s social media access draws bipartisan support in the Senate
- By: Jessica Melugin
Congressional efforts to regulate the internet to shield minors from harm online is an old story, going back to the internet’s…
National Review
Politicians Are Squandering America’s Chance to Get It Right on TikTok
- By: Jessica Melugin
National-security concerns about the world’s most popular app, TikTok, might be legitimate, but addressing them is proving a master course in Washington dysfunction. Significant questions remain…
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…
Studies
M&As Are A-Okay
- By: Jessica Melugin
Fretting about “killer acquisitions” and “kill zones” is common among regulators in Washington these days, but entrepreneurs and investors at work in the tech industry…
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…
Citations
Fox Business
VIDEO: CEI’S Jessica Melugin Joins Fox Business to Discuss Twitter’s New CEO and the ‘unintended consequences’ of Children Using A.I.
- By: Jessica Melugin
Competitive Enterprise Institute Center for Technology & Innovation director Jessica Melugin discusses Twitter’s new CEO and the ‘unintended consequences’ of children using A.I.
Fox Business
AI tools such as ChatGPT are the hottest new trend for companies, but experts urge caution
- By: Jessica Melugin
Fox Business cites Director of the Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin on AI tools: According to Jessica Melugin, director of the…
The Well News
Justice Dept. Sues Google Again Alleging Monopolistic Ad Tactics
- By: Jessica Melugin
Google was joined in criticizing the Justice Department by Jessica Melugin, the director for technology and innovation at the Washington, D.C.-based public policy…