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, artificial intelligence, 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 and others. She has been cited in The Washington Post, Politico, U.S. News and World Report and Variety. Ms. Melugin is a frequent cable news television and radio guest.
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
Spirit Announces Furloughs after Biden, Court Scuttle Merger with JetBlue
In the wake of an adverse court ruling and a Biden administration threat to stop a merger between budget airlines Spirit Airlines and JetBlue, the…
Florida social media law puts all users’ privacy at risk: CEI analysis
A new social media bill signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will ban people younger than 14 years old from using social…
Government Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple Undermines Consumer Choices
The U.S. Justice Department along with 16 states and the District of Columbia, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on March 21, arguing the company…
Blog
US move to ban TikTok a troubling signal for our great experiment in self-determination
- By: Jessica Melugin
As a part of a foreign aid funding package, the Senate passed a bill mandating TikTok’s divestiture from Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance. Biden…
Off-the-rails FTC wrong answer for keeping kids safe online
- By: Jessica Melugin
This week the Washington Post reported that the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is poised to pass the Senate, but faces hurdles in…
Silver lining? New federal merger guidelines: 11 bad ideas instead of 13!
- By: Jessica Melugin
Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued their final version of the 2023 Merger Guidelines.
Op-Eds/Articles
The Dispatch
Let Parents, Not Politicians, Keep Kids Safe Online
- By: Jessica Melugin
Many parents today are rightly concerned about what their kids see on social media and how much time they spend online. And politicians have noticed.
Fox News
Why creating an international body for AI is a bad idea
- By: Jessica Melugin
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently re-upped his calls for a global body, akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to advise member…
National Review
Biden Order on Artificial Intelligence Puts Too Much Faith in Regulators
- By: Jessica Melugin
President Biden’s executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI) directs more than a dozen federal agencies to, among other things, “establish guidelines…
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
Reason
Parents Don’t Want Schools to Confiscate Kids’ Phones
- By: Jessica Melugin
CEI’s Jessica Melugin is cited in Reason on parents position of schools confiscating student’s phones: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law restricting teen use…
Fox Business
Apple Vision Pro headset becomes tool in operating room
- By: Jessica Melugin
CEI’s Jessica Melugin is cited in Fox Business on Apple Vision Pro becoming an operating room tool: Jessica Melugin, director of the Competitive Enterprise…
Fox Business
Nobody is going to use Google’s woke chatbot unless they ‘fix’ its bias: Jessica Melugin
- By: Jessica Melugin
CEI’s Jessica Melugin is featured in a Fox News interview about Google’s woke chatbot: Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com Watch the interview on…
Regulatory Comments
FCC: Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 88 Fed. Reg. 76048
- By: Jessica Melugin
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”) respectfully submits these comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) adopted on October 19, 2023, in the…
CEI Comments on Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”) respectfully submits these comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) adopted on October 19, 2023, in the…
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
September 26, 2023 RE: Premerger Notification; Reporting and Waiting Period Requirements Docket ID No.: FTC-2023-0040-0001 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we respectfully…