Tech Policy

October 7, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in Compact. Since the rise of the modern conservative movement, its adherents have championed a Burkean respect for the hard-won wisdom of the organic social order. From William F. Buckley to Roger Scruton, conservative intellectuals have advocated for a defense of tradition under assault from the rationalistic, scientific pretensions of modern

How Stewart Made Tucker

October 5, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in the New Atlantis. Jon Stewart has a dream where he walks out onto the brightly lit set of a new TV show. He has worked for years to build this show. It’s the answer to everything wrong with the news media. For decades, Americans were fed a news diet

Screen Test

September 9, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in Return. For years, Americans and Europeans have been warned of the growing power and reach of Russian information warfare. From the Brexit referendum to the election of Donald Trump, there was hardly an important election Putin hadn’t hacked. Western experts had warned for years about hybrid warfare, blending disinformation, astroturfed

September 8, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

With the Federal Trade Commission’s recent effort to block the merger between Meta and fitness app developer Within, the Democratic leadership of the FTC is showing its preference for playing politics rather than protecting consumers. The Commission argues that the merger would give Meta a dominant position in the market for “dedicated VR fitness apps.”

Cutting It as a Tech Writer

July 22, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published on Substack. Another week, another media blow-up. Yesterday, an editor at The New Yorker, Erin Overbey, accused the magazine of retaliating against her for protesting gender inequalities, when it opened a “performance review” into her work. She claimed her boss, editor-in-chief David Remnick, inserted two errors into her articles during the performance

July 18, 2022 | Luke Hogg

By Jonathon Hauenschild and Luke Hogg With the August recess approaching and the November elections looming, the window is rapidly closing for the current Congress to enact legislation updating antitrust laws to hold big technology companies accountable. That could be good news for American consumers, since the flagship bill under consideration in the Senate might force

July 12, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Conservatives across the country have grown increasingly distrustful of large online platforms. From content suppression during COVID-19 to the deplatforming of Parler to large-scale data breaches, high-profile incidents have led many on the center-right to question Big Tech’s influence over our lives. With Republicans poised to gain seats in Congress in November, lawmakers should be looking ahead to the 118th

July 5, 2022 | Dan Lips

By Zach Graves and Dan Lips TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media apps, with more than 80 million U.S.-based active users, including an astounding 70 percent of all American teenagers. Through its rise in popularity, the app has been plagued by a series of security and privacy concerns related to its parent company, ByteDance, and its

June 24, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Click here to download a PDF of the full testimony. Chairman Van Hollen, Ranking Member Hyde-Smith, and Members of the Subcommittee, We are writing on behalf of Lincoln Network to encourage this Subcommittee to provide additional funding to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and to direct funds for the hiring of additional staff technologists. In

Don’t Rush a Bad Bill

June 17, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Democrats’ poorly-drafted antitrust bill will do little for Republicans, and its consumer backlash will undermine future legislative efforts Republicans and Democrats alike have grown increasingly mistrustful of large online platforms in recent years. But the basis for this mistrust comes from two conflicting lines of thinking. Whereas Democrats are primarily concerned with market power and

May 9, 2022 | Luke Hogg

For decades, immigration reform has been a white whale for Congress. Despite bipartisan legislative efforts, executive branch buy-in, and broad agreement that the current system is broken, immigration reform legislation has proven elusive. Now that a bipartisan group of Senators has once again begun legislative discussions on the topic, there may soon be opportunities to

April 25, 2022 | Luke Hogg

It’s time for the United States to wake up to the global challenges ahead, and the rivalry between liberal Western values and growing illiberal threats. Over the past few years, the European Union has taken an aggressive posture on tech regulation, targeting large U.S. tech firms and showing little regard for the global implications of

How Punishing Big Tech Harms America

April 5, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing its support for legislation that would ban large tech platforms (primarily Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta) from a range of “discriminatory” behaviors such as self-preferencing their own products. The letter argues that the American Innovation and Choice Online Act

March 22, 2022 | Luke Hogg

With little chance of passage, are progressives attacking or feinting moderates? Over the past few years, lawmakers have considered tightening rules around mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as a way to rein in Big Tech’s bigness. Last week, in a rather unexpected move, progressives in Congress unveiled their counter to previous antitrust legislation. The bicameral Prohibiting

November 8, 2021 | Luke Hogg

But would blocking M&As starve the Big Tech beast, or hamstring their future competitors by weakening the startup ecosystem? Last Thursday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Min.) — Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights — introduced new legislation targeting Big Tech companies’ ability to engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). This

October 14, 2021 | Luke Hogg

But is it doubling down on the House’s flawed approach? Following the House Judiciary Committee’s introduction of its package of bills to address alleged anticompetitive practices in the tech industry back in June, Senate Judiciary Committee members Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have announced the first in a series of long awaited companion

June 22, 2021 | Zach Graves

The House Judiciary Committee’s package of anti-tech monopoly legislation heads to markup tomorrow. Included in it are several proposals to strengthen the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ-ATR), the two primary US competition enforcement agencies. Out of this package, the two bills that are least controversial, and thus most

June 16, 2021 | Zach Graves

Following the House Judiciary Committee’s year-long investigation into digital market competition in the 116th Congress, a group of House lawmakers are advancing a bipartisan package of bills aimed at reining in big tech firms—namely, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. What the bills do If enacted, this package would dramatically reshape the US innovation ecosystem,

Building state capacity at FTC and DOJ

June 16, 2021 | Zach Graves

Within the House’s package of anti-monopoly proposals, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021 is the odd one out. It has a longer legislative history, stronger bipartisan support, is relatively incremental, and is not explicitly targeted at big tech. Despite some nay-saying from the peanut gallery, as well as a more fraught political environment

June 10, 2021 | Zach Graves

Click here to download a PDF version of the paper Zach Graves is a visiting fellow with the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. This NSI law and policy paper offers an overview of the recent history, driving forces, and policy implications of the “techlash”—a phenomenon referring to a

June 1, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Tuesday, Lincoln Network and representatives of eight organizations sent a letter to Chairman Bob Menedez and Ranking Member Jim Risch of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requesting a hearing on American tech firms supporting digital authoritarianism. The letter cited recent media reports about Apple’s business practices in the People’s Republic of China and the

March 4, 2021 | Zach Graves

Majorities of both Republicans and Democrats now support increased regulation of the tech industry. Responding to this pressure, policymakers on both sides of the aisle have become increasingly critical of big tech, and are looking to advance new legislation. However, because their underlying grievances are different—with the right focusing on anti-conservative bias, and the left

Video: Protocols vs. Platforms

February 25, 2020 | Zach Graves

ABOUT THE EVENT The early Internet evolved around many different protocols. Email utilized Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Post Office Protocol (POP), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP); The web was accessed using Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), with data sent over Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP); and you could chat with

January 16, 2020 | Will Upton

Lincoln Network’s Zach Graves recently appeared on a panel at CES entitled: “Should Big Tech be Broken Up?” You can check out the full panel below. Featuring: Moderator:Jamie Susskind VP Regulatory Affairs, CTA Panelists:Jennifer HuddlestonResearch Fellow, Mercatus Center Charlotte SlaimanPolicy Counsel, Public Knowledge Zach GravesHead of Policy, Lincoln Network Dr. Robert AtkinsonPresident, Information Technology and

December 18, 2019 | Will Upton

Despite the convenience and benefits of online platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, the growing power and influence of ‘Big Tech’ have inspired a new wave of critics on both America’s Left and Right. These critics have argued online platforms promote unhealthy addiction, exacerbate polarization, waste our time and energy, and create easier pathways to

Beware Big Tech’s Embrace Of Regulation

November 25, 2019 | Aaron Ginn

Major players worried about upstarts displacing them are hurrying to cement their market dominance. Silicon Valley has entered a downward spiral of metaphorical mob-like violence, accelerated by broader societal ills and its own mistakes. In an effort akin to taking a hammer to the problem, “breaking up Big Tech” has become one of the few

November 21, 2019 | Garrett Johnson

Conservative voters are (or should be) worried about being censored by social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Or so holds an enduring conservative narrative. But my organization, the Lincoln Network, conducted a national poll with Morning Consult to learn how Republican voters really feel about this issue. The results suggest a significant gap between the

June 16, 2019 | Ryan Radia

The following article originally appeared at FoxNews.com. Should the federal government break up big tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon? Last week, the House Judiciary Committee began investigating this question, marking Congress’s first major antitrust probe in decades. Members of both parties are understandably concerned about tech giants, with some politicians going so far as to push

Reboot American Innovation Conference

May 6, 2019 | Lincoln Policy

Check out all the videos from Lincoln Network’s Reboot American Innovation conference. Additional information about the speakers and program can be found here. Agenda 8:15 AMREGISTRATIONContinental breakfast 8:45 AMWELCOME & OPENING REMARKSGarrett Johnson, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Lincoln Network; Aaron Ginn, Co-Founder, Lincoln Network. 9:00 AMOPENING KEYNOTEDr. Robert Zubrin, President, Pioneer Astronautics; and Contributing Editor, The