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
DMA has its head in the Clouds
This week, the European Commission (EC) announced that Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure Cloud services are being preliminarily designated as “gatekeepers” under the Digital…
Blog
The oasis in America’s affordability desert: Broadband gets faster while prices fall
Americans are understandably worried about affordability. Housing, health care, utilities, and groceries have all become more expensive in recent years, stretching household budgets…
Blog
Time to end the SEC’s surveillance of everybody’s finances
Today is the deadline for filing regulatory comments on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) program. The CAT is a…
Search Posts
News Release
Government Green Light for T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Good News for Consumers
CEI applauds the Department of Justice’s approval of the proposed merger between the nation’s third and fourth largest mobile telecommunications providers, T-Mobile US Inc and…
Fortune
Why Recent Antitrust Regulation Isn’t Really About Consumer Protection
In its second hearing today, the House Judiciary Committee continued its investigation into the tech antitrust issue. This latest iteration of “hipster antitrust” is nothing more…
News Release
Breaking Up Tech Companies Will Harm Consumers and Halt Industry Dynamism
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust is holding a hearing today to consider the merits of antitrust regulation of large technology companies, including Amazon, Apple,…
Broadcasting Cable
Trump’s Social Media Summit Billed as ‘Bias’ Bashing Exercise
Broadcasting Cable cites Research Fellow Patrick Hedger on social media censorship. The fiscally conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute weighed in with a warning before…
News Release
Empowering Government to Regulate Speech Would Harm Americans’ First Amendment Rights
This afternoon, the White House is convening a group of elected officials, public policy organizations, and private citizens for a “Social Media Summit.” …
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of Section 230
Dear House and Senate Leadership, The undersigned groups believe that government should not be setting speech codes online or undermining free speech. The…
Reason
Because Politicians Are for Sale, They Think Everyone Else Is Too
Reason cites CEI’s position on government control of the Internet. The senator thus compounds his disdain for free speech with accusations that his…
Blog
More to Like in Zuckerberg’s Aspen Talk Than Not
Yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on some of the most pressing issues facing his company and big tech as…
The Singapore Business Times
Regulating Facebook Protects Facebook
The Singapore Business Times cites a CEI report on the economy under the Obama Administration. More recently, a report by the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
If Facebook and Apple are Feuding, How Are they Monopolies?
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal recapped a recent war-of-words between a European Facebook executive, Nick Clegg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. At issue…
News Release
Senate Bill Targets Big Tech but Empowers Regulators over Consumers or Investors
Senate lawmakers Mark Warner (D-VA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) have a new bill to force Big Tech firms (like Facebook, Google, and Amazon) to calculate…
Politico Playbook
POLITICO Playbook: Trump Wants to Talk to Iran, Not Bomb It
Politico cites CEI regarding its annual dinner, inspired by Game of Thrones. OUT AND ABOUT — The Competitive Enterprise Institute celebrated its 35th anniversary with a…
News Release
Sen. Hawley’s Section 230 Legislation is Highly Regulatory and Should be Rejected
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today introduced legislation that would end Section 230 protections for large technology and social media platforms.
Phys.org
With Virtual Money, Facebook Bets on Disrupting the World, Again
Phys.org cites CEI’s Senior Fellow on Facebook’s new cryptocurrency. “If successful, Libra could have benefits for consumers and small businesses in reducing the transaction…
Marketplace
Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Prompts Regulation Concerns
Marketplace cites CEI’s Research Fellow Patrick Hedger on Facebook’s new cryptocurrency. Patrick Hedger, a research fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the Libra…
News Release
Regulators Should Let Consumers and Merchants Decide the Fate of Facebook’s Cryptocurrency
Facebook, Inc. today released a white paper outlining plans to launch a new cryptocurrency named “Libra.” According to the white paper, Libra would be built…
Blog
Regulators Should Foster Financial Innovation
It is becoming increasingly apparent that financial technology, or “fintech,” like other forms of technology, can drastically improve consumers’ lives. Yet one of the most…
NewsBusters
‘Climate Emergency’ Activism Now Official Party Line at Telemundo
Newsbusters cites CEI on news media use of the term “climate emergency.” As the Competitive Enterprise Institute has indicated, “the doomsday interpretation of climate change…
Blog
State Officials, Department of Justice Should Green-Light Sprint-T-Mobile Merger
Yesterday’s filing by ten state attorneys general to block the proposed merger of wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint is the latest threat to the innovations…
TechNewsWorld
T-Mobile-Sprint Merger Teeters Between FCC Approval, DOJ Rejection
TechNewsWorld cites Associate Director Jessica Melugin on competition between wireless carriers. “No one can be sure of the ‘right’ number of competitors in…
Fox News
Conservatives Who Want Facebook, Other Social Media Regulated Should Think Twice
There are growing calls from both sides of the political aisle for government regulation of speech on social media platforms, but letting government dictate what…
Blog
Liberate Local TV Programming from Price Controls
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to hold a hearing on the state of the media marketplace on June 5 and the debate around reauthorizing The…
Blog
Costs of Loss of Anonymity in Administrative Surveillance State
The ability of citizens to communicate privately and to retain anonymity if desired are foundational rights slipping away in the regulatory panopticon of the administrative…
Blog
Federal Communications Commission Wisely Steps out of Way of Sprint/T-Mobile Merger
Today the Federal Communications Commission signaled it will likely vote to approve the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile.
Blog
White House Uses Discredited Complaints Tactic against Social Media Companies
My colleague Wayne Crews has already slammed the White House for a first step towards government regulation of online speech in its “tech bias” complaints…
Blog
Breaking up and Regulating Facebook: Unfair, Un-American, Unacceptable
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former publisher of The New Republic, argues in a long essay for The New York Times that the company should be…
Blog
Don’t Let Facebook Team up with Big Government to Censor the Web
Facebook’s expulsion of several controversial figures from its platform last week is an example of a company managing its own private property to what it…
CNBC
VIDEO: Ryan Radia Discusses Facebook and FTC on CNBC Power Lunch
Adjunct Fellow Ryan Radia joined CNBC’s Power Lunch to discuss Facebook and the FTC.
News Release
DOJ Wrong to Intervene in Merger Between Sprint and T-Mobile
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that antitrust enforcement staff at the Department of Justice have told T-Mobile and Sprint the proposed merger between the…
CNS News
Facebook Moves on from ‘Move Fast and Break Things,’ Calls for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Bloomberg BNA
Talking Cars Speaking Different Tongues May Make FCC Pick Winner
Bloomberg BNA cited Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on the NCTA’s request to allow unlicensed use of 5.9 GHz airwaves for Wi-Fi calls. Potential…
Blog
Americans Optimistic about Role of Tech and Platforms
At a time when big tech companies are being attacked over bigness, privacy, elections, and the ordering of their news feeds, the Charles Koch Institute…
News Release
House Bill Seeks to Resurrect Unnecessary, Heavy-Handed Regulation of the Internet
The House of Representatives passed a bill today aimed at reinstating heavy-handed regulation of the Internet put into place under the Obama Administration. The bill…
News Release
SEC Threatens Access to Cryptocurrency and Other Digital Goods
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today released a report warning that government regulation of cryptocurrency as a “security” threatens innovation in financial transactions and other consumer…
Study
Cryptocurrency and the SEC’s Limitless Power Grab
Many questions are being asked about cryptocurrency. Is it a major innovation that will improve standards of living in ways we cannot yet imagine? Or…
Blog
Sharing Economy Is Opposite of Servant Economy
In a bleak take on the sharing economy, Atlantic writer Alexis C. Madrigal says it has created a “servant economy,” where sharing economy platforms provide…
Blog
Facebook’s Call for Regulation Could Lead to Government Censorship
The Internet is unique in history not because it lacked “rules” about free expression, but that it expanded that broadcast freedom to all, not just…
News Release
CEI 35th Anniversary Event Speakers Announced
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce the speakers for its 35th-anniversary dinner on June 20 in Washington, D.C.
Blog
Move Slowly and Establish Rules: Facebook’s Call for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Blog
America’s Tech Regulators Should Not Follow Europe’s Lead
This week The Economist endorsed European “tech doctrine”—a combination of antitrust, tax, privacy, and regulatory policies that is rapidly being imposed on a mostly American…
Blog
VIDEO: Building a Living on eBay
At a time when socialism seems determined to crawl back from the dustbin of history, it can be a challenge defending the moral legitimacy—and humanity—of…
The Washington Times
Antitrust Explained
The Washington Times cited Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on CEI’s video, “Antitrust Explained.” Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren is among those who…
News Release
CEI Releases New Video: How Antitrust Harms Consumers by Stifling Innovation and Competition
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today launched a new video, “Antitrust Explained,” disputing recent calls by politicians and academics to use antitrust laws and regulations…
National Review
Breaking Up Platforms Has Sickening Implications
Hipster antitrust sickens me. Literally. I was under the weather last week. Feeling ill, I spent a good amount of time at local pharmacies, searching…
News Release
Washington Bureaucrats Should Stay Out of T-Mobile-Sprint Merger
Today, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law will hold a hearing on the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. The…
News Release
Plan to Break Up Tech Companies “Bad News for Consumers, Innovation”
According to reports, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is set to announce a new plan to use antitrust regulations to “break up” large and innovative technology…
News Release
Congress Should Stay Out of Broadband Regulation and “Let the Free Market Keep Working”
Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will roll out a new piece of legislation aimed at reversing the FCC’s decision to repeal so-called “net neutrality” rules…
Politico
Takeaways from the DOJ’s Merger Defeat
Politico cited Associate Director of the Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin on the AT&T and Time Warner merger. The Justice Department’s headline-grabbing…
News Release
Court Rejects Antitrust Lawsuit Against AT&T/TimeWarner Deal: CEI Comment
Today, a federal court rejected an antitrust challenge to a merger deal between AT&T and TimeWarner. CEI technology policy expert Jessica Melugin praised the ruling…
Blog
Net Neutrality Regulation Still a Bad Idea
The debate at today’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing was largely between making blocking, throttling, and fast lanes illegal and going further to…
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