Olivier Sylvain at Columbia Journalism School

The Internet, Social Media, and Big Tech

While the laissez-faire approach to regulating the internet generated enormous wealth, it also inflicted significant harm. Hear from Olivier Sylvain, former senior advisor to the Federal Trade Commission, law professor, and communications scholar, about key arguments in this debate, including internet regulation and privacy liability. Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act provided First Amendment protections; however, it has also acted as a legal shield for companies like Alphabet and Meta. So who is responsible? How free should the internet's marketplace be? And who gets to decide?

This event is open to the Columbia Journalism community only

In Reclaiming the Internet, Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm.

“Sylvain meticulously exposes how a handful of corporations hide ruthless systems of surveillance, addiction, and commercial exploitation behind legal and cultural myths around neutrality and free expression.”
—Zephyr Teachout, Fordham Law School, author of Break ’Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom From Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money

Learn more about Reclaiming the Internet