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
Time’s up for the equal time rule
Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines “anachronism” as a person or thing that is chronologically out of place, “especially: one from a former age that is…
Blog
Otherwise Objectionable episode 6: ‘The Rest of the World’
The sixth episode of Otherwise Objectionable, the narrative-driven podcast that tells the true story of Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, focuses on…
Blog
How valuable will anonymous comments be to the Ferguson FTC?
Comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its “Inquiry on Tech Censorship” are due next month on May 21, 2025, and the public has…
Search Posts
Letters
Coalition Opposing Changes to 47 U.S. Code § 230 (Section 230) as Part of the National Defense Authorization Act
Honorable Senators and Representatives: We the undersigned write today to express our grave concern regarding recent reports of changes to 47 U.S. Code § 230,…
News Release
Repealing Section 230 Would Be Devastating to Free Expression Online
The Trump administration is pressing for a repeal of the tech industry’s liability-limiting statute, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, as a part of…
News Release
Chairman Ajit Pai’s FCC Advanced the Cause of a Freer, Fairer, More Industrious Nation
Economic and social resilience relies upon modern, evolving communications systems. Since beginning service as a Commissioner in 2012, the actions of Ajit Pai demonstrate confidence in…
Blog
On Online Speech, Sasse Stands Alone
There was an almost total lack of skepticism of expanding government regulation of online content moderation at yesterday’s Senate hearing with the CEOs of…
Blog
Biden Tech Policy Preview
Joe Biden has been declared the president-elect (I’m pretty sure). Here’s what a Biden administration and a (presumably) divided Congress might mean for tech issues.
Blog
FCC Takes Another Step away from Net Neutrality
After 15 years of unrelenting regulation and litigation, the days of net neutrality as a live policy issue in Washington may be numbered. At its…
Blog
Not the Strongest Case: DOJ’s Google Antitrust Complaint
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust complaint against Google. It marks the beginning of the first major monopolization case since the…
Blog
FinCEN Files Shows Regulatory and Privacy Concerns with the Bank Secrecy Act and the Necessity for Reform or Repeal
Last month, BuzzFeed News published an investigative report that alleged that banks sat on their hands while criminals laundered trillions of dollars over the…
Blog
The House Judiciary’s Antitrust Reports and Predatory Pricing
It is human nature to fear what we do not understand. And if there is anything politicians do not understand, it is markets. This is…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Against Nationalizing 5G
Dear Senator Thune, We write to thank you for your recent letter supporting the American competitive approach to 5G deployment, which is private sector driven…
News Release
Laws to Limit Section 230 Protections Would Lead to More Government Oversight of Speech
Large technology companies were the focus of multiple proceedings in Congress today, including a markup of a bill to change Section 230 of the Communications…
Blog
FCC Approves More Critical Mid-Band Spectrum for 5G
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a meeting where the commissioners voted to adopt two orders that will make more spectrum available for…
News Release
DOJ-Recommended Changes to Section 230 Would Lead to More Moderation of Conservative Speech
The Department of Justice today asked Congress to make changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a provision that protects any website from…
News Release
Antitrust Investigations against Tech Threaten to Hamper Pandemic Response and Recovery
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report today arguing that large technology companies are making invaluable contributions to our quality of life…
Blog
SAFE DATA Act a Risk for Consumers
Republican members of the Senate Commerce Committee recently introduced the SAFE DATA Act. While the bill includes much needed federal preemption of state privacy laws,…
News Release
Antitrust Claims Against Google Ad Platform Fail to Meet Consumer Harm Standard
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing later today claiming to look into antitrust concerns related to Google’s online advertising platform. Associate…
Blog
Don’t Panic Over Ad Tech
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an antitrust hearing on September 15 to examine Google’s 90 percent market share in online advertising. Senators who would…
News Release
New CEI Report Finds Bipartisan Embrace of Harmful, Interventionist Tech Policies
Neither major political party holds a monopoly on bad ideas when it comes to federal policy towards the technology sector, according to a…
Study
Terrible Tech 2.0
View Full Document as PDF Executive Summary If you are looking for bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., the technology policy sector may be your…
Blog
FCC Chairman Pai Proposes More Spectrum for 5G
Yesterday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced that at the agency’s upcoming September meeting, the FCC will vote on two proposals…
Blog
No Market Failure, No New Regulations
The U.S. Senate is about to consider federally regulating transportation network companies (TNCs) for the first time. But proof of market failure should always be…
Blog
INFORM Me When It’s Over
Among other depressing developments, 2020 saw the introduction of the Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act (INFORM) in both houses…
National Review
Why Are We Even Contemplating Canceling Aristotle?
There is a good piece hidden in philosopher Agnes Callard’s recent article for the New York Times about cancel culture. Unfortunately, that piece is lost in the framing device.
National Review
House Antitrust Hearing Discusses Everything but Antitrust Law
In Wednesday’s antitrust hearing with the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, questions from liberal members of Congress laid the groundwork for expanding the…
Blog
Observations from the Tech Antitrust Hearing
This post collects some observations from yesterday’s lengthy House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law hearings with the chief executives of Amazon,…
Blog
Tech Antitrust Hearing as Political Theater
Large, innovative tech companies have been invaluable during the COVID-19 crisis, helping to ease the burden of millions of Americans and businesses under quarantine. But…
Inside Sources
Government Contact Tracing Won’t Help Get Americans Back to Work, but Innovation Will
Contact tracing identifies people who have an infectious disease (cases) and people they came in contact with (contacts) who may have become infected.
Forbes
Antitrust Showdown In Congress: Big Tech, Meet Big Government
There’s a contradiction in the Trump, and by extension Republican, deregulatory agenda that could inadvertently threaten the recovery of an already wavering economy. That aberration…
Blog
Antitrust Tech Hearing Unlikely to Prove Useful
Monday’s upcoming House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing featuring CEOs from Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple may turn out to have very little to do with antitrust.
Forbes
Don’t Exploit Tragedy To Curtail Beneficial Fintech Investing Apps
My colleague Joshua Rutzick, research associate at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, contributed significantly to the research and writing of this post. The recent death of…
Forbes
Don’t Exploit Tragedy to Curtail Beneficial Fintech Investing Apps
The recent death of Alexander Kearns, the 20-year-old day trader who took his own life, has sparked a conversation about the business practices…
Blog
How Narrowly Are We Going to Define Markets for Tech Antitrust?
One of the key points of contention in any antitrust analysis is defining the scope of the market in question. Ignoring existing competitors by narrowing…
Study
Repeal of #NeverNeeded Regulations Can Help People Stay Home and Safe During the COVID-19 Crisis
As individuals and businesses continue to address the COVID-19 health crisis, access to technologies and services that have enabled large swaths of the economy to…
Blog
A Bright Spot for Tech on USMCA Day
Today the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement goes into effect. Despite its many flaws, it contains a beneficial provision related to the tech sector. The language of…
Study
Policy Principles: Consumer Privacy
PRIVACY The right to privacy is a bedrock principle of a free society and essential to today’s economy. Yet, privacy protection is an ever-evolving field.
Forbes
Regulating Social Media Content Moderation Will Backfire And Make Big Tech More Powerful
As repeatedly noted by defenders of free speech, expressing popular opinions never needs protection. Rather, it is the commitment to protecting dissident expression that is…
Blog
A Cellular Network or a Jobs Program? Sprint/T-Mobile Critics Launch Misguided Attacks
The recently-approved Sprint/T-Mobile merger is already coming under fire after layoffs were announced. But even the harshest critics begrudgingly acknowledge that the jobs being eliminated…
Study
Take Net Neutrality Regulations off the Table for Good
Congress should eliminate the looming threat of net neutrality regulations to Internet service providers (ISPs). Regulation deters investment and the coronavirus health crisis has revealed…
Blog
The Flawed EARN IT Act: Rights and Common Sense Should Not Have to Be Earned
The EARN IT Act is set for a markup in the Senate Judiciary Committee as early as this Thursday. Essentially the bill conditions intermediary liability…
Blog
Is Apple a Bad Antitrust Apple?
The European Union announced last week that it is pursuing two antitrust probes against the tech giant. EU authorities are investigating whether Apple violated European…
Blog
House Judiciary Setting up Political Theater Disguised as Tech Antitrust Hearing
Sometime next month, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing on competition and antitrust featuring the CEOs of Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple,…
Blog
Calls to “Reform” Section 230 of Communications Decency Act Are Misguided—and Thankfully Unlikely to Succeed
This week, four U.S. Senators asked the FCC to “take a fresh look at Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act .” Real changes…
Breitbart
Online Divisions: Twitter, Facebook Diverge on Trump’s Words
Breitbart cites Research Fellow Patrick Hedger on President Trump and social media censorship: “It’s really a no-win scenario’’’ for social media companies, said…
Bloomberg Law
Trump Social Media Liability Order Opens Partisan Divide at FCC
Bloomberg Law cites attorney Devin Watkins on President Trump’s executive order on social media: “Because this comes directly from the president, this obviously…
The New York Times
Trump’s Order on Social Media Could Harm One Person in Particular: Donald Trump
The New York Times cites Research Fellow Patrick Hedger on President Trump’s executive order on social media: “Conservatives must appreciate the fact that…
Bloomberg Law
Charter Fights FCC Subsidies in Upstate New York Broadband Push
Bloomberg Law cites Research Fellow Patrick Hedger on FCC subsidies: Patrick Hedger, a research fellow for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said Charter likely…
Study
The Case against Social Media Content Regulation
As repeatedly noted by most defenders of free speech, expressing popular opinions never needs protection. Rather, it is the commitment to protecting dissident expression that…
Blog
Executive Order on Social Media Threatens Property Rights and Free Speech
Today’s Executive Order on Section 230 liability protections for online platforms violates the First Amendment and property rights of social media companies, contradicts the most…
Bloomberg Law
Here Is A Catalog Of Trump’s Threats To Regulate Social Media
The major print and cable television news media outlets are abuzz with stories of Twitter fact-checking President Donald Trump’s tweets. Alleged…
Blog
Presidential Panel on Social Media Bias Misfires
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is considering forming a panel to investigate charges of discrimination against right-leaning users and…
Blog
Glaring Problems with Latest Right-Wing Attack on Section 230
A recent opinion editorial in Newsweek is the latest salvo from the political right against Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Couched in criticisms…
Washington Examiner
Why is there bipartisan support for limiting online liberty?
Facebook recently announced the first 20 members of its independent Oversight Board on content moderation. Many criticized the political bent of the majority of the…
Blog
Let Local News Outlets Bail Each Other Out
Allowing common ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations would allow them to achieve economies of scale in their sales departments and other keys aspects of…
Blog
The Coronavirus Outbreak Highlights Importance of the Artificial Intelligence Debate
Tracing of individuals and other measures involving artificial intelligence are in the news with respect to managing individuals’ reentry into the economy in the wake…
Blog
Decades of Internet Freedom Left America Better Suited for the Pandemic
Broadband investment has rebounded since the FCC rolled back public utility-style rules for Internet service providers. The decades-long trend of more significant Internet usage, enabled…
Blog
Market Dynamics Will Force Zoom to Reform Faster and More effectively than Government Regulation
The videoconferencing service Zoom recently ran into some privacy concerns with leaked videos and hacked online meetings. Reaction has been swift and flawed from many…
Blog
CEI Submits Comments to FCC Reinforcing Public Safety Benefits of Internet Freedom
Last year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld virtually all of the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom Order. This order, issued in 2017, rolled back…
News Release
CEI Praises FCC Decision to Open Up Spectrum for Business Use
In an effort to make efficient and effective use of the nation’s spectrum resources, today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it will move forward…
Blog
Apple and Google Demonstrate Big Tech Done Right Can Make Big Government Obsolete
Many see the purpose of government as solving problems that otherwise wouldn’t be efficiently addressed in its absence. Yet, despite the steady growth of government,…
Forbes
How The White House “Guidance For Regulation of Artificial Intelligence” Invites Overregulation
Excessive top-down federal funding and governance of scientific and technology research will be increasingly incompatible with a future of lightly regulated science and technology specifically, and with…
News Release
Libra Cryptocurrency Progress May Aid COVID-19 Economic Recovery
The Libra Association today announced progress made on modifying its Facebook-developed cryptocurrency and payment system to meet regulatory concerns.
Forbes
How The White House “Guidance For Regulation Of Artificial Intelligence” Invites Overregulation
Excessive top-down federal funding and governance of scientific and technology research will be increasingly incompatible with a future of lightly regulated science and…
Blog
On Balance, We’re All Better Off With Big Tech and Big Telecom During a Crisis
Thanks to the novel Coronavirus, the U.S. economy has come to an unprecedented halt and the country’s death toll stands at more than 20,000. Amid…
Blog
Robots Are Here to Make Your Job Safer and Cleaner
Positive stories about win-win results from the march of automation are everywhere in our economy, but they don’t get told and repeated enough. The workers…
Blog
Don’t Combine COVID-19 Treatments of Government Spending and Internet
Government spending is ramping up in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. A significant chunk of the economy has shifted to telecommuting. There are now…
Blog
Potential Phase 4 COVID-19 Bill Must Not Turn Broadband Charity into a Tax
As the COVID-19 crisis ransacks our economy, the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” carries increasingly important wisdom. By any objective account,…
Blog
Regulatory Restraint, Full Throttle
Members of Congress pursuing compromise or bipartisan net neutrality legislation should think twice about regulating away certain practices as a priori harmful. Among the greatest…
Blog
Gingrich Praise of Huawei is Dangerously Misguided
After attempting to cover up the spread of the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party is now engaged in a…
Blog
Need for More Wireless Spectrum Will Persist beyond COVID-19 Crisis with Introduction of 5G Technology
Last week, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T and US Cellular all asked the FCC for temporary access to additional spectrum to accommodate the recent increased demand for…
Blog
CEI Comments to FCC on Proposed Reallocation of 5.9 GHz Band
On March 9, CEI submitted comments to the FCC on its proposal to reallocate a portion of the 5.9 GHz band from Intelligent Transportation Systems…
Comment
CEI Comments on 5.9 to FCC
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), we respectfully submit these comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (“Commission”) Notice…
Blog
CEI Scholars Warn EARN IT Act Will Weaken Online Protections
Today, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the EARN IT Act, a bill that ties critical intermediary liability protections for online platforms, known as Section…
Blog
Regulatory Hurdles Already Impeding Competition to Big Tech
Calls to regulate “big tech” firms continue to grow louder. Concerns range from the ability of these firms to influence the political landscape to allegations…
Blog
Federal Court Rightly Affirms Online Platforms’ First Amendment Rights
This week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, “despite YouTube’s ubiquity and its role as a publicfacing platform, it remains a private forum,…
Blog
Net Reality: Five Years Since the Open Internet Order
If you’re reading this, the Internet is alive and well. If you’re wondering how the Internet is doing, just picture a rocket—symbolizing both the incredible…
Blog
So-Called Conservative Tech Proposal Is an Affront to the First Amendment
Several conservative groups have signaled their support for what some are calling a “small-government solution” to perceived anti-conservative bias by tech platforms. The solution that…
Blog
FCC to Vote on Crucial Spectrum Auction this Month
At the FCC open meeting on February 28, the commissioners will vote on a critical matter regarding a proposed public auction for what is known…
Forbes
We’re Not Biased, We’re Liberals: How Cultural Leftism Will Slant Social Media Regulation
“Water? What’s water?” —The fish As debates over bias, harm, misinformation and election interference on social media unfold, it will be interesting to…
Multichannel News
T-Mobile-Sprint Decision Draws Crowd
Multichannel News cites associate director Jessica Melugin on the T-Mobile-Sprint Decision: “This is good news for U.S. consumers who benefit from economies of scale…
News Release
CEI Applauds Court Decision to Approve Sprint-T-Mobile Merger
CEI applauds today’s decision by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero to approve the $26 billion merger of T-Mobile US Inc. with Sprint Corp. over the…
News Release
New Sen. Hawley FTC Proposal Would Empower Government
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) today released a new proposal to “overhaul” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), claiming the agency “lacks teeth.”…
News Release
DC Court of Appeals Declines to Reconsider So-Called Net Neutrality
WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declined to reconsider a decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to…
Blog
FCC Offers New, Promising Approach on TV White Spaces
Today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced a new proposal on the use of television white spaces, unallocated bands or allocated and unused bands of spectrum…
The Heartland Institute
Understanding an Internet Sales Tax
The Heartland Institute cites Associate Director of the Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin on internet sales taxes: Jessica Melugin of the…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on FCC C-Band Proceeding
Dear Chairman Pai, and Commissioners O’Rielly, Rosenworcel, Carr, and Starks: We support the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moving quickly to enable secondary market transactions in…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on the L-Band
Dear Chairman Pai: We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to take decisive action to make additional mid-band spectrum available without delay. Such expansion will allow…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Urging Finance Ministers to Oppose Global Digital Taxation
On behalf of billions of taxpayers and consumers around the globe, we, the undersigned, urge you to oppose international efforts to weaponize global conversations about…
Forbes
Deepfakes and Beyond: Who Wins if Social Media Platforms are Regulated?
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone except you and people you agree with would just STFU? Attributed indirectly to Voltaire, the sentiment “I disapprove of…
C-Span
VIDEO: Patrick Hedger Discusses Efforts to Regulate “Big Tech”
Research Fellow Patrick Hedger joins C-Span to discuss efforts to regulate “big tech” companies.
Blog
California’s New Privacy Law Will Harm Consumers and Innovation
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect January 1, 2020. The law requires companies of a certain size that collect information on customers…
The Wall Street Journal
Another California Job Buster
The Wall Street Journal cites CEI’s study on A.B. 5 by Research Fellow Ryan Radia: Bloggers will be able to apply for full-time…
Blog
Department of Justice Wrong to Block Sabre Acquisition of Farelogix
On January 27th, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) will attempt to block travel technology company Sabre Corporation from purchasing communications protocol innovator Farelogix, Inc. This will be the…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on Mid-Band Spectrum
Dear Chairman Pai: We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to take decisive action to make additional mid-band spectrum available without delay. Such expansion will allow…
Blog
USMCA Won’t Protect Tech from Trudeau
A point of contention in the debate over the new U.S., Mexico, Canada (USMCA) trade agreement has been whether or not the final deal will…
Forbes
How Regulation of “Harmful Speech” Online Will Do the Real Harm
Much of the debate over online speech concerns whether or not conservatives are “censored” by big tech. But there are bigger fish to fry.
Blog
Attorneys General Shouldn’t Hold Mergers Hostage
Last week the attorneys general of Texas and Nevada announced the withdrawal of their support of a multistate lawsuit to block the merger of cellular telephone…
Blog
Government of Singapore Demonstrates Real Online Censorship
Singapore’s recent policing of online content provides an instructive example of the difference between private curating of material by platform owners and dangerous curtailing of…
News Release
CEI Praises FCC for Breaking Impasse on 5.9 GHz Spectrum Band
Today, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum. For the last…
Inside Sources
Point: Critics Can’t Decide if Facebook Does Too Much or Too Little
During his recent appearance at Georgetown University, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed up the company’s predicament: “Right now, we’re doing a very good job at…
The Chicago Tribune
PRO: Critics can’t decide if Facebook does too much or too little
During his recent appearance at Georgetown University, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed up the company's predicament: "Right now, we're doing a very good job at…
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