Knight Foundation donates $350,000 to cause

The Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition (CTIC) has secured a $350,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to help figure out how to regulate Big Tech.

Specifically, CTIC and its founding director, Christopher Yoo, will be trying to provide "a basis for evidence-based decision-making regarding the economics of digital services."

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The idea is that, rather than lump companies into FANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) and GAFAs (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple), instead develop an understanding of the differences between companies in the sector and the "market dynamics for online services and the business strategies that digital platforms are pursuing," said Yoo, who is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication at Penn Law.

Yoo will tap the resources of the Wharton and Annenberg Schools for input on "theoretical and empirical studies on the issues raised by digital platforms." Results will be shared with government officials interested in drilling down on the economics of Big Tech.

Yoo will likely have a willing audience inside the Beltway. Both Congress and the Trump Administration are investigating whether, and more likely how, to regulate tech platforms.