Our working definition of a digital platform (with a hat tip to Harold Feld of Public Knowledge) is an online service that operates as a two-sided or multi-sided market with at least one side that is “open” to the mass market
Platforms
The case for open data access to aid tech regulation
This year, Congress passed a law forcing ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell the app within a year or face a potential shutdown. However, there is speculation that the incoming Trump administration could reverse the ban, even though the first Trump administration originally raised the idea of a ban, and his potential cabinet picks remain
Trump Puts $4 Billion in Shares of His Media Company in a Trust
President-elect Donald J. Trump transferred all of his shares in the social media company that bears his name to a trust controlled by his eldest son, according to a regulatory filing. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said Mr. Trump had moved his roughly 115 million shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, to the trust.
Musk's maxed-out megaphone: Shutdown power play will be hard to repeat
An extraordinary display of Elon Musk's social media power saw the world's richest man funnel the anger of his hundreds of millions of online followers against a bipartisan compromi
Media vs. reporting
The epic fight over funding the government captures the power—and flaws—of the new information ecosystem. Elon Musk and his followers on X proved they dominate the Republican media industrial complex—using a digital revolt to kill a spending bill, and open the door to a government shutdown. That revolt was powered by some false information, tweeted with total self-certainty.
Musk’s dangerous, exaggerated conflation of social media and democracy
It’s been apparent for some time that Elon Musk and Donald Trump align on more than politics. Each has a, let’s say, robust sense of his own importance and an apparent need for others to recognize that importance. Both have a large fan base happy to offer that recognition.
Musk's new way to govern the country
Elon Musk is doing exactly what a lot of observers worried (or wondered, or hoped) he would do when he jumped into politics this year: governing via X.
Musk's America
Elon Musk is arguably the most powerful person in business, the most powerful man in media and, at least at this moment, the most powerful man in politics.
It’s the end of the internet as we know it—and I feel fine
The internet feels like it’s falling apart. To start, nothing seems to work anymore. Google’s search engine once provided directory-level assistance to the denizens of the internet. Now it’s chock full of ads, sidebars, SEO-optimized clickbait, and artificial intelligence-powered guesstimations of possible answers to peoples’ questions. On Amazon, the digital shelves are littered with sponsored products and cheap replicas of popular items. On social media, the situation is even more dire.
Broadband Provisions in the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025
This week, Congress passed the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, this year's version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The law authorizes $895.2 billion for Department of Defense programs, defense-related activities, and national security programs in the Department of Energy and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Supreme Court to Hear TikTok’s Challenge to Law That Could Ban It
The Supreme Court agreed to hear TikTok’s challenge to a law that could ban its U.S. operations, putting the case on an exceptionally fast track, culminating in oral arguments at a special session on Jan. 10. In setting aside two hours for the argument, the justices signaled that they viewed the case as presenting questions of exceptional importance. The move came only two days after TikTok and its Chinese parent company filed an emergency application.