The increasing presence of technology in the digital age has led to a proliferation of unprecedented challenges. The harvesting and abuse of personal data, the damaging misinformation campaigns, and the surge in digital addiction risk the physical safety of online users, compromise the privacy of individuals and companies, and undermine democratic institutions.
Leading scholars discussed the most pressing threats associated with the next generation of the web and presented solutions during the academic conference, which was followed by a moderated policy discussion combining a number of these scholars with a group of policymakers.
This event was co-sponsored by Sciences Po, the Georgetown University Global Economic Challenges Network, the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and the McCourt Institute.
Participants
Beatriz Botero Arcila is an assistant professor of law at Sciences Po and an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. She holds a doctor of juridical science and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and is a lawyer from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Her research and expertise focus on data governance in urban environments, privacy law, data governance policy, municipal law, platform governance, and legal theory. Botero Arcila has worked with and advised both fintech companies and human rights and civil society organizations, and she has lectured in law and the digital information economy at several universities. She is also co-founder of the Edgelands Institute, a pop-up institute incubated at the Berkman Klein Center focused on studying digital surveillance and cities.
Constance de Leusse is the executive director of the McCourt Institute. She has more than 20 years of experience in digital policy and capacity building. She started her career working in the French prime minister’s services on information society issues. She then joined the Internet Society, the international NGO founded by Vint Cerf, a father of the internet. de Leusse has served on a number of committees, including the World Economic Forum Internet For All Steering Committee and the UN Secretary-General’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
Matthew Gentzkow is Landau Professor in Technology and the Economy at Stanford University. He studies applied microeconomics with a focus on media industries. He received the 2014 John Bates Clark Medal, given by the American Economic Association to the American economist under the age of 40 who has made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.
Sergei Guriev (moderator) is provost at Sciences Po. He is also a research fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research and member of the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association. Guriev’s research interests include contract theory, corporate governance, political economics, and labor mobility. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Paul F. Nemitz is principal advisor in the directorate-general for justice and consumers of the European Commission. Previously, he was the director responsible for fundamental rights and union citizenship, the lead director for the reform of the European Union (EU) data protection legislation, the follow-up to leaks by U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, the negotiations of the EU – U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks, and the EU Code of Conduct against hate speech on the internet. He has broad experience as an agent of the European Commission in litigation before European courts, and he has published extensively on EU law.
Nathaniel Persily is the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, with appointments in the Department of Political Science, Department of Communication, and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Prior to joining Stanford, Persily taught at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School; he was a visiting professor at Harvard University, New York University, Princeton University, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Melbourne.
Ekaterina Zhuravskaya has been a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics (EHESS) since 2010. She is also a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in political economy and development economics programs. Her main academic interest is in political economy. Zhuravskaya received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1999 and spent 10 subsequent years working as professor at the New Economic School and as the academic director of the Center for Economic and Financial Research in Moscow.
Schedule
8:00 a.m. – 8:05 a.m. EDT / 2:00 p.m. – 2:05 p.m. CET
Welcoming Remarks and Introduction by Sergei Guriev
8:05 a.m. – 9:05 a.m. EDT / 2:05 p.m. – 3:05 p.m. CET
Matthew Gentzkow, "Digital Addiction and Commitment"
9:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. EDT / 3:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. CET
Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, "The Impact of Policies to Fight Social Media Disinformation: Stop False, Circulate True"
Julia Cagé, "Fact-Checking and Misinformation: Evidence from the Market Leader"
Nathaniel Persily, "Tech Troubles 3.0: Democracy Confronts Platform Transformation and the AI Revolution"
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. EDT / 6:00 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. CET
Policy Panel Discussion Moderated by Sergei Guriev
Beatriz Botero, Assistant Professor of Law, Sciences Po
Constance de Leusse, Executive Director, McCourt Institute
Matthew Gentzkow, Landau Professor in Technology and the Economy, Stanford University
Paul F. Nemitz, Principal Advisor in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission
1:15 p.m. EDT / 7:15 p.m. CET
Cocktail Reception