Whether it is lifting net neutrality regulations, allowing AI to reach its full potential to benefit mankind, educating policy makers about content moderation, clearing legacy regulations at the Federal Communications Commission, advocating for greater spectrum efficiency, or defending business practices that benefit consumers but are disliked by antitrust enforcers, CEI punches above its weight. Coalition activity, relationships with tech and telecom journalists, media appearances, policy events, Capitol Hill outreach, op-eds, and in-depth studies combine to make CEI influential in the tech and telecom policy area.
Tech and Telecom Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Camelot and misuse of the public interest
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr has used the Communications Act’s public interest obligation to pressure broadcast licensees. This includes threatening ABC over…
Reason
5 Legal Reforms To Consider as Government Officials Lean on Critics
Reason cited CEI’s expert in new study on broadcasting regulation Also making that point is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Brian A. Rankin in a …
News Release
New CEI paper: FCC should stop regulating news content
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has long used its role in licensing spectrum to broadcast television and radio stations to regulate those outlets under the…
Search Posts
Blog
Big tech: threat or America’s best hope in global AI race? Questions for Trump antitrust appointees
Continued scrutiny of tech companies by antitrust authorities is expected under the Trump administration, with two new nominees awaiting confirmation to the Department of…
Blog
Free speech at risk: Why website blocking bill goes too far
Content creators have long complained about copyright infringing websites that deprive them of compensation. The Motion Picture Association claims infringement costs “hundreds of thousands…
Restoring America
Trump must cancel CFPB censorship
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen dropped bombshells on the popular Joe Rogan Experience about political persecution from financial…
Blog
Risks remain after Congress’s deregulatory net neutrality choice is affirmed
This past decade’s net neutrality saga recently received much needed clarity thanks to the federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Its decision rules on the…
Broadband Breakfast
Think Tank Analysts Outline Pro-Growth Broadband Reforms
Broadband Breakfast WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2025 — Analysts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute are urging Congress to enact broad telecommunications reforms as outlined in…
Blog
Safeguarding innovation from bureaucracy: The techno-libertarian pivot
The just-concluded 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) highlighted the relentless pace of technological innovation—from robotics and AI to rollable laptops and transparent TVs. Yet, amid…
NTD
Facebook’s Fact-Checking Change Will Create More Open Environment, Not ‘Wild West’ of Free Speech: Expert
NTD interviewed CEI’s expert on Meta’s Fact-Checking policies. Mark Zuckerberg has promised to create a more open environment on Facebook. To learn more, NTD…
Blog
Hayek on Facebook’s community notes
Meta is going to stop using professional fact-checkers for Facebook posts. My colleague Jessica Melugin is relieved that Meta is finally publicly acknowledging…
News Release
Meta’s new content moderation is a step in the right direction: CEI analysis
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced major changes to its content moderation system today. The company says it aims to allow as…
Op-Eds
Targeting Digital Platforms
President Biden’s antitrust regulators have filed a pair of lawsuits targeting tech platforms, claiming they abuse their position as intermediaries between consumers and third parties.
National Review
Please, Somebody Google ‘Hubris’
The pretense of knowledge is on full display in the Department of Justice’s proposed remedies for the Google trial. The government’s…
Forbes
A Trump 2.0 Agenda For Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence represents an unprecedented economic opportunity as well as a complex security challenge for the United States. As Trump gets set to begin his…
News Release
CEI Report: Wi-Fi success shows permissionless innovation is a competitive advantage
Wi-Fi is ubiquitous in the United States. It provides Americans with broadband access in countless locations, including homes, schools, hotels, coffee shops, offices, airports, and…
Study
No Permission Needed
Robust, resilient, and high-capacity internet service is critical to America’s economic prosperity and success. A key part of internet service is Wi-Fi, which provides Americans…
Blog
A blueprint for digital censorship in the US?
Internal documents from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), as revealed by digital censorship journalist Matt Taibbi, showed that the group’s primary…
Blog
Congressional lessons learned: Prioritize private risk capital investment
There is always a temptation for Congress to act during a lame duck session to show it is hard at work doing good for the…
Blog
The FCC’s curious curiosity about broadband data caps
With less than three months remaining in the current administration, the FCC has released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on broadband data caps. Data…
Blog
Principles for the new administration: Leave old rules with old technologies
There will be a new administration in January regardless which party wins the election, making this a good moment to recall President Reagan’s advice…
Reason
The Justice Department’s Proposals for Breaking Up Google’s Dominance Won’t Work
Reason quoted CEI’s expert on antitrust atmosphere Jessica Melugin, director of the Center for Technology and Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, tells Reason that a…
Blog
Searching for a remedy that makes sense
The Department of Justice recently sent its proposed remedies to the federal judge who found Google guilty of illegally monopolizing web search. Specifically,…
Forbes
NIST AI Guidelines Misplace Responsibility For Managing Risks
Policymakers are scrambling to keep pace with technological advancements in artificial intelligence. The recent release of draft guidelines from the U.S. AI Safety Institute, a…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: AI and the future of work with Patrick Carroll
In this week’s episode we report from the State Policy Network’s annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona and some of the great reform proposals…
RealClear Markets
Global Regulators Want To Hamstring AI Innovation
RealClear Markets cited CEI on technological innovation Like many efforts at economic planning, subverting market forces — the forces that drive creative destruction — driving…
Blog
The social significance of the Consolidated Audit Trail
Personal privacy is important. The ability of citizens to communicate and do business with one another – and to do so with some degree of…
Blog
Consumers can see a net benefit from FCC’s net neutrality rule stall
The saga of broadband regulation is finally taking a positive turn. On August 1st, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of…
News Release
Judge gets Google antitrust ruling wrong
A federal judge ruled today that Google violated antitrust law, declaring “Google is a monopolist” in online search. Competitive Enterprise Institute antitrust, legal, and economic…
National Review
AI Could Make the Google Court Decision Moot
In a decision by the District Court of the U.S. District of Columbia, Google has been found guilty of monopolizing its leadership in…
National Review
AI Could Make the Google Court Decision Moot
In a decision by the District Court of the U.S. District of Columbia, Google has been found guilty of monopolizing its leadership in…
Blog
EU’s Digital Markets Act: An obstruction to AI innovation?
European consumers are being left behind in the AI revolution due to tightened regulations. Apple’s decision to withhold its new AI features from the European…
Reason
Senate To Vote on Web Censorship Bill Disguised as Kids Safety
Reason cites Jessica Melugin on KOSA safety flaws “KOSA would trigger mandatory uploading of government id’s, face scans or social security numbers of…
The Washington Times
KOSA is a poor substitute for parenting
Good parenting was always a lot of work, but guarding kids’ online mental health has added to the parental load. Not every problem has a…
Blog
Could AI regulation hamper the next agricultural revolution?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize the agricultural industry, along with other sectors of the economy. Already, AI has reduced…
News Release
Supreme Court decision on state social media laws portends free speech victories
Today, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Moody v. NetChoice & CCIA and NetChoice & CCIA v. Paxton, two related cases reviewing state…
Blog
Wi-Fi: A freedom and innovation success story
There’s a been a lot of bad news on the regulatory front lately with the FCC darkening broadband’s success with burdensome regulation. But let’s celebrate…
Blog
Everyone agrees we need more spectrum, so why is Congress making it complicated?
Politics prioritized over policy is de rigueur these days, but it shouldn’t be for spectrum auction reauthorization. The importance to the US economy and to…
Blog
A brief look at the Senate’s proposed AI regulations
As new artificial intelligence (AI) models release and their capabilities grow, fears around artificial intelligence have begun to crop up as people wonder what AI…
Wall Street Journal
For the Sake of Free Speech, Keep Section 230
The only remedy Reps. McMorris Rodgers and Pallone Jr. offer for online harms is to turn the plaintiffs’ bar loose on tech companies, a curious…
News Release
DOJ’s suit to breakup Live Nation-Ticketmaster will not lead to lower prices for entertainment
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit today against Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, alleging anticompetitive behavior. The DOJ lawsuit seeks to…
Wall Street Journal
For the Sake of Free Speech, Keep Section 230
The only remedy Reps. McMorris Rodgers and Pallone Jr. offer for online harms is to turn the plaintiffs’ bar loose on tech companies, a curious…
National Review
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Section 230
The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a draft bill to sunset the online liability shield commonly known as Section 230. The proposal is…
National Review
Free expression depends on it.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a draft bill to sunset the online liability shield commonly known as Section 230. The proposal is only about 50 words…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Against Section 230 Repeal or Replace
Dear Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, We write to you in advance of the committee hearing on May 22, 2024 to express…
Forbes
Senate AI Working Group’s Roadmap Leaves Many Questions Unanswered
Last week, the Senate AI Working Group released an eagerly-awaited roadmap report, “Driving U.S. Innovation in Artificial Intelligence: A Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the United…
Reason
The Scandalous Science Behind Nuclear Regulation
Nuclear power could be a game-changer for energy affordability, grid reliability, and carbon reduction. However, it’s been stifled for decades based on one deeply flawed…
Blog
The CHIPS and Science Act: A potential regulatory issue
Industrial policy is back with a bang. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, prompting intense debates in Congress about government’s role in…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Technology and politics with Corbin Barthold
In this week’s episode we cover bringing your parents to a job interview, the case against a universal basic income, and why…
National Review
Net Neutrality Trusts Regulation over Markets
Despite years of investment, innovation, increasing competition, and declining prices under a light-touch regulatory framework, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reinstated Obama–era net-neutrality rules and…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Technology and society with Will Rinehart
In this week’s episode we cover nuclear radiation, luxury handbags, rent control in Maryland, net neutrality, and fighting malaria…
Blog
Subsidy-free capitalism may require a constitutional amendment
Automobiles, electrification, ample consumer goods and mass marketing, a construction boom, and access to credit helped fuel the Roaring Twenties of a century ago.
Wall Street Journal
‘Net Neutrality’ Faces a Stiff Judicial Test
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday along partisan lines to reclassify broadband internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II of…
Staff & Scholars
Jessica Melugin
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government