January 27, 2021

tl;dr - The Digital Markets Act

Dirk Auer

Background: The European Union has unveiled draft legislation that seeks to tame so-called “gatekeeper” Big Tech firms. If passed into law, this Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) would create a list…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

January 26, 2021

tl;dr - The Digital Services Act

Anastasiia Rusanova

Background: The European Commission has released its draft Digital Services Act (“DSA”), which seeks to make the internet safer for European citizens. If passed into law, this regulation will shape…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

April 20, 2020

ICLE Submission to Digital Advertising Services Inquiry

Samuel Bowman & Geoffrey A. Manne

The purpose of this submission is to highlight some of the findings of the relevant scholarship to help to inform the ACCC’s work, and to highlight some of the problems that may arise during the course of the study, given the misconceptions about competition between advertising-funded digital platforms that are common in the media and popular debate today.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

July 15, 2019

The Third Circuit’s Oberdorf v. Amazon Opinion Offers a Good Approach to Reining in the Worst Abuses of Section 230

Gus Hurwitz

In a remarkable ruling issued earlier this month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held in Oberdorf v. Amazon that, under Pennsylvania products liability law, Amazon could be found liable for a third party vendor’s sale of a defective product via Amazon Marketplace.

Data Security & Privacy

July 15, 2019

There’s Nothing “Conservative” About Trump’s Views on Free Speech and the Regulation of Social Media

Ben Sperry

Despite the simplistic narrative tying President Trump’s vision of the world to conservatism, there is nothing conservative about his views on the First Amendment and how it applies to social media companies.

Data Security & Privacy

June 15, 2019

ICLE Comments on Department of Justice Workshop on Competition in Television and Digital Advertising

Geoffrey A. Manne

The Department should be commended for undertaking this workshop “to explore industry dynamics in media advertising and the implications for antitrust enforcement and policy.... and the competitive dynamics of media advertising in general.” The competitive dynamics of advertising markets—and digital advertising markets, in particular—are complicated and not well-understood.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

March 22, 2017

Understanding ownership and property in the Digital Age

Geoffrey A. Manne & Neil Turkewitz

What does it mean to “own” something? A simple question (with a complicated answer, of course) that, astonishingly, goes unasked in a recent article in the Pennsylvania Law Review entitled,…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection