{"id":4299,"date":"2019-05-08T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T09:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/press-release\/public-knowledge-and-roosevelt-institute-launch-guidebook-to-regulating-digital-platforms\/"},"modified":"2021-11-24T17:16:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T17:16:14","slug":"public-knowledge-and-roosevelt-institute-launch-guidebook-to-regulating-digital-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/public-knowledge-and-roosevelt-institute-launch-guidebook-to-regulating-digital-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Knowledge and Roosevelt Institute Launch Guidebook to Regulating Digital Platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, Public Knowledge and the Roosevelt Institute launched “<\/span>The Case for the Digital Platform Act<\/a>,” a new e-book by Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld with a foreword by former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler<\/a>. The e-book operates as a guide for addressing the challenges posed by the power of digital platforms.<\/p>\n

Many Americans now wonder how they can reassert control over their lives after ceding so many decisions about our economy and our public discourse to private actors. These individuals manage digital platforms that now permeate every aspect of our lives. In this e-book, Feld explains both how we got here and what we can do about it. He evaluates a wide variety of policy solutions and provides a road map to regulating digital platforms inspired by economics, social policy, the history of communications regulation, and antitrust law. His e-book aims to show policymakers how they can both preserve competition and empower individual platform users in the huge swath of our economy now referred to as “Big Tech.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In the e-book, Feld defines digital platforms as a service that:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Is accessed via the internet;<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Is at the center of a two-sided or multi-sided market where at least one side is open to the general public  and allows the public to play multiple roles;<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Enjoys specific types of powerful network effects.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    He explains the need for a “Digital Platform Act” and for an agency specifically charged to regulate digital platforms on an ongoing basis. He proposes a new method of assessing a platform’s dominance for purposes of new regulation. He also addresses questions around content moderation rights and responsibilities for companies that have found themselves policing the new public square, all while preserving the best things about digital platforms for their users.<\/span><\/p>\n

    An expert agency over digital platforms can analyze and study the market to determine when regulation or enforcements are needed, including if:<\/span><\/p>\n