Date: February 5, 2023
Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm Mountain Standard (MST) // 3:15-4:15 EST
In the more than two decades since Silicon Flatirons launched its first inquiry into the nascent “Digital Broadband Migration,” the Internet and its constituent players have evolved from a disruptive, competitive technology to the cornerstone of nearly every aspect of the modern world. Work, education, healthcare, transportation, financial systems, agriculture, democracy, social and cultural interactions – nearly every facet of modern life is inextricably entangled with a wide range of Internet service providers and platforms that help shape and define the day-to-day experiences of billions of people.
But the optimism and forward-looking nature of discussions about the Internet’s potential, as highlighted in the Digital Broadband Migration days, has given way to dissatisfaction. A mounting array of problems rooted in the Internet’s sprawling ecosystem present difficult challenges that must be untangled. Among other things, fears of mis- and disinformation, hate speech, and abuse, algorithms that often amplify rather than eradicate discrimination and inequality, the increasing toxicity of political discourse, the decline of journalism and its traditional business model, the erosion of competition, economic contraction, and questions about the federal government’s traditional hands-off approach to much of the Internet ecosystem have emerged as the commercial Internet ages past the quarter-century mark of its inception.
At the 2023 session of our annual conference, a range of speakers from academia, government, civil society, and industry will train their attention on the good, the bad and the ugly—where we have come from and where we are headed as we grapple with the challenges created by the Internet’s midlife crisis.
Panel: Implementation of Platform Regulation in Europe
- Moderator: David Sullivan — Executive Director, Digital Trust & Safety Partnership
- Emma Llanso — Director, Free Expression Project, Center for Democracy & Technology
- Chris Riley — Distinguished Research Fellow, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania