Internet

ITIF’s spring seminar course explores core emerging technologies and issues that are reshaping our world and, in the process, creating public policy challenges and opportunities. The course is open to congressional and federal staff only.

Sen. Rand Paul’s call to revoke Section 230 over grievances with Big Tech highlights a broader risk: using the law as a political weapon would undermine online free speech, whereas reforms increasing transparency in content moderation could address concerns without dismantling its protections.

Mandatory adoption of EU-style digital rules amounts to regulatory imperialism for many countries in the Global South. It limits technology adoption, raises compliance costs, and undermines the ability of local firms to compete with Western ones.

The TikTok deal shows that targeted structural safeguards can address data security risks without banning foreign apps outright. It also highlights unresolved challenges around reciprocity, uneven enforcement, and how governments should handle other Chinese tech platforms going forward.

The UK’s proposed under-16 social media ban reflects a recurring moral panic about new technologies and would undermine youth connection, parental choice, and online privacy without evidence that blanket bans address the real causes of harms to children.

The Grok bikini controversy highlights real harms from AI misuse, but it also shows that the right response is enforcing existing laws, holding bad actors accountable, and pursuing tech-neutral, proportionate policies—rather than rushing into broad, AI-specific regulation that risks undermining free expression and innovation.

The Internet may be forever, but regulatory frameworks should not be. Decisions made today about web crawling will help determine where the next generation of AI leadership emerges—whether in Europe, the United States, or elsewhere.

Cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools, digital advertising, e-commerce platforms and online human resources systems have become the most practical way smaller firms close the capability gap with larger competitors.

Now is the time for the Commission to remove unnecessary regulations that stand in the way of next-generation network deployment.

The European Commission’s proposed tweaks to the ePrivacy Directive offer only minor relief from intrusive cookie prompts, but to truly support innovation, free digital services, and Europe’s competitiveness, policymakers must fundamentally overhaul the outdated consent model.