Conference 

# Who’s Afraid of Big Tech? 

Date and Time 

March 1, 2019 9:15 AM - 3:50 PM EST 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

[![Matthew Feeney](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Matthew%20Feeney.jpg?itok=O149-e08)](/people/matthew-feeney) 

[Matthew Feeney](/people/matthew-feeney)

Head of Technology and Innovation, Centre for Policy Studies

[ 

](https://twitter.com/m_feeney) 

Lindsey Barrett 

Thomas Kadri 

![A Kazaryan portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-02/a-kazaryan.jpeg?itok=q20YvQ95) 

Ashkhen Kazaryan 

Senior Legal Fellow, The Future of Free Speech

[ 

](https://x.com/Ashkhen) 

Corynne McSherry 

Alec Stapp 

Matthew Stoller 

Kristian Stout 

Allen Dickerson 

Federal Election Commission

Since the 2016 presidential election, the debate over the social role and power of America’s tech giants has intensified. Companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Google have found themselves on the receiving end of an array of complaints and regulatory proposals.

News of foreign interference in elections and allegations of mismanagement have prompted lawmakers to take action. Executives from the largest and most popular technology companies have been called before congressional committees and accused of being bad stewards of their users’ privacy, failing to properly police their platforms, and engaging in politically motivated censorship. At the same time, companies such as Google and Amazon have been criticized for engaging in monopolistic practices.

Are such criticisms and complaints legitimate? If so, how should regulators respond? The Cato Institute’s upcoming conference, “Who’s Afraid of Big Tech?” will feature policy and industry experts tackling these and other timely questions. We hope that you will join us.

**Schedule**

| 8:45 — 9:15AM | **REGISTRATION** |
|---|:--|
| 9:15 — 9:20AM | **WELCOMING REMARKS** [**Matthew Feeney**](https://www.cato.org/people/matthew-feeney), Director, Cato Institute Project on Emerging Technologies |
| 9:20 — 10:35AM | **PANEL 1: BIG BROTHER IN BIG TECH** **Alec Stapp**, Research Fellow, International Center for Law & Economics **Ashkhen Kazaryan**, Director of Civil Liberties and Legal Research Fellow, TechFreedom **Lindsey Barrett**, Staff Attorney and Teaching Fellow, Georgetown University Law Center Institute for Public Representation Communications and Technology Clinic Moderated by [**Julian Sanchez**](https://www.cato.org/people/julian-sanchez), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute [Download the video of the “Welcome Remarks” and Panel 1](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-01-19-01.mp4) [Download the podcast of the “Welcome Remarks” and Panel 1](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-01-19-01.mp3) |
| 10:35 — 10:50AM | **Flash Talk: The Time is Now: A Framework for Comprehensive Privacy Protection and Digital Rights in the United States** **Burcu Kilic**, Director, Digital Rights Program Public Citizen [Download the video of the Flash Talk](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-01-19-02.mp4) [Download the podcast of the Flash Talk](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-01-19-02.mp3) |
| 10:50 — 11:00AM | **Break** |
| 11:00AM — 12:15PM | **PANEL 2: Is Big Tech Too Big?** **Matt Stoller**, Fellow, Open Markets Institute **Kristian Stout**, Associate Director, International Center for Law and Economics Moderated by [**Peter Van Doren**](https://www.cato.org/people/peter-van-doren), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute [Download the video of Panel 2](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-01-19-03.mp4) [Download the podcast of Panel 2](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-01-19-03.mp3) |
| 12:15 — 1:15PM | **Lunch** |
| 1:20 — 1:35PM | **Flash Talk: Online Ad Regulation: Necessary or a Danger to Free Speech?** **Allen Dickerson**, Legal Director of the Institute for Free Speech [Download the video of the Flash Talk](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-01-19-04.mp4) [Download the podcast of the Flash Talk](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-01-19-04.mp3) |
| 1:35 — 2:50PM | **PANEL 3: Free Speech in an Age of Social Media** **Corynne McSherry**, Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation **Thomas Kadri**, Resident Fellow, Yale Information Society Project **Jonathan Rauch**, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution **Lori Moylan**, Public Policy Manager at Facebook Moderated by [**John Samples**](https://www.cato.org/people/john-samples), Vice President, Cato Institute [Download the video of Panel 3](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-01-19-05.mp4) [Download the podcast of Panel 3](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-01-19-05.mp3) |
| 2:50 — 3:50PM | **Reception** |

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).