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 an 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
Biden DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Visa unfounded
The Biden Justice Department today announced an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging the company illegally monopolized the debit card market by enticing merchants away from…
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…
CEI to Recognize Entrepreneurship and George Will’s Promethean Contributions at Julian L. Simon Memorial Dinner in September
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is pleased to announce award winners and speakers for the annual Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner on…
Blog
A blueprint for digital censorship in the US?
- By: Jessica Melugin
Internal documents from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), as revealed by digital censorship journalist Matt Taibbi, showed that the group’s primary…
Searching for a remedy that makes sense
- By: Jessica Melugin
The Department of Justice recently sent its proposed remedies to the federal judge who found Google guilty of illegally monopolizing web search. Specifically,…
Missing the economists in FTC’s latest PBM study
- By: Jessica Melugin
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its not-so-objectively titled interim report on Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs): Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug…
Op-Eds/Articles
The Washington Times
KOSA is a poor substitute for parenting
- By: Jessica Melugin
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…
National Review
Baseless Federal Investigations Would Stifle America’s Pioneering AI Industry
- By: Jessica Melugin
The Biden administration is going beyond antitrust enforcement in AI and is instead trying to predict the future of the industry itself. Reports indicate…
Wall Street Journal
For the Sake of Free Speech, Keep Section 230
- By: Jessica Melugin
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…
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
The Justice Department’s Proposals for Breaking Up Google’s Dominance Won’t Work
- By: Jessica Melugin
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…
The New York Times
Inside Harris’s Big Economic Pitch
- By: Jessica Melugin
The New York Times quoted CEI’s expert on Harris’s Economic Pitch While a similar argument didn’t sway regulators in JetBlue’s attempted acquisition of Spirit, financial industry…
Reason
Senate To Vote on Web Censorship Bill Disguised as Kids Safety
- By: Jessica Melugin
Reason cites Jessica Melugin on KOSA safety flaws “KOSA would trigger mandatory uploading of government id’s, face scans or social security numbers of…
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…