The Regulation of Digital Industries is the first book to address the tech backlash within a coherent policy framework. It treats competition, privacy and free speech as objectives that must be pursued in a coordinated fashion by a dedicated industry regulator. It contains detailed discussions of current policy controversies involving social media companies, search engines, electronic commerce platforms and mobile apps. It argues for new laws and regulations to promote competition, privacy and free speech in tech and outlines the structure and powers of a regulatory agency able to develop, implement and enforce digital rules for the twenty-first century. Deeply informed by the history of regulation and antitrust in the United States, it brings to bear insights from the breakup of AT&T and the Microsoft case and from broadcasting and financial services regulation to enrich the discussion of remedies to the failure of tech competition, the massive invasion of privacy by digital firms and the information disorder perpetuated by social media platforms. It offers a comprehensive summary of regulatory reform efforts in the United States and abroad and shows how accomplishing the goals of these reform efforts requires the establishment of a single digital agency with jurisdiction to reconcile and balance the complementary and conflicting goals of promoting competition, protecting privacy, and preserving free speech in digital industries. It discusses in detail how a digital regulatory agency would be structured and the powers it would need to have. It confronts head on some of the challenges in establishing a strong digital regulator including the First Amendment roadblock that limits government authority over digital speech and the judicial opposition to the expansion of the administrative state. It is essential reading for policymakers, public interest advocates, industry representatives, academic researchers and the general public interested in a coherent policy approach to today's tech industry discontents.
Mark MacCarthy is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Communication, Culture, & Technology Program. A prolific writer on tech policy issues, he was formerly a Congressional staffer and public policy advocate for the broadcasting, financial services, and tech industries.
Foreword Digital Industries and Their Discontents Introduction Dominance in Digital Industries Centrality of Digital Services Privacy Challenges Content Moderation Challenges The Regulatory Solutions The Digital Regulator Coda: From Here to There Competition Rules for Digital Industries The Anti-Monopoly Moment Promoting Competition in the Telephone Industry Preventing Monopolization in Computer Software The New Pro-Competitive Tools Amazon's Antitrust Troubles The Google-Apple Mobile App Duopoly Google's Search Monopoly The Ad-Tech Conundrum Facebook's Mergers Privacy and Content Moderation in Digital Mergers Data Portability, Interoperability and Nondiscrimination for Social Media Regulatory Forbearance Conclusion Privacy Rules for Digital Industries Introduction What is Privacy? Limitations of Privacy as Individual Control Legal Bases for Data Use Data Minimization and Purpose Limitation Ban on Abusive System Design Fiduciary Duties of Care and Loyalty Restricted Use Expert and Balanced Enforcement First Amendment Issues Coda Content Moderation Rules for Social Media Companies Introduction User Transparency Transparency Reporting Access to Social Media Data for Researchers Regulation of Social Media Algorithms A Dispute Resolution Program for Social Media Companies Notice Liability Political Pluralism Social Media Duties to Political Candidates First Amendment Issues The Digital Regulator Introduction Defining Digital Industries Defining Dominance and Centrality Agency Structure and Jurisdiction Exclusive jurisdiction Independence Limited Authority Accountability Co-Regulation Internal Organization Resources Other Policy Issues Regulatory Capture Balancing Agency Missions Judicial Review Chevron Deference Non-Delegation Implications for the Digital Regulator Conclusion Where Do We Go From Here? Introduction Competition Policy Privacy Content Moderation Coda
