Organising Institution
TechFreedom
Ireland
The New Digital Cold War: What Does Trump Really Want? Why Is Europe Losing? What’s at Stake?
- Workshop
- Machine Room
- Wednesday 21.05 — 16:00 - 17:15
The Trump administration has blasted European countries and the European Commission for “censoring” what Republicans call “free speech” and “hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation”. How did we get here? Is there any validity to these complaints? Are “European values” being unfairly caricatured? How should European policymakers respond? Is
the Trump administration serious about leveraging European dependence on the US military to force changes to European regulation of digital services? Are European regulators, like US tech companies, already giving way? What do Republicans really want anyway? Join us for a lively, interactive discussion of these issues among a diverse panel from both sides of the Atlantic to explore the law, geopolitics, and practical consequences of this brewing feud for Internet users and the health of European democracies. Come share your darkest fears, your unanswered questions, and your practical advice.
Host
Benjamin Shultz
The American Sunlight Project - United States
Benjamin Shultz serves as Lead Researcher at The American Sunlight Project, a bipartisan organization that analyzes and counters online harms that undermine democracy. He is also affiliated with the Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society as a Fellow working on issues around science hostility and the Council of Europe Conference on Drug Control Networks as an Artificial Intelligence Expert. Additionally, Ben teaches courses on open-source investigative techniques and media literacy.
Host
Berin Szóka
TechFreedom - International
Berin Szóka is President of TechFreedom. Named one of Washington DC's 500 Most Influential People by Washingtonian Magazine, his work focuses on how law shapes digital media in the U.S. and Europe, especially free expression, consumer and child protection, and telecommunications.
Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he practiced law at Latham & Watkins LLP and Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Szóka received his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, a master's in European Law at Panthéon-Assas University Paris II, and a B.S. in economics from Duke University. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and California (inactive).
Host
Giovanni De Gregorio
Católica Lisbon School of Law - Portugal
Giovanni De Gregorio is the PLMJ Chair in Law and Technology at Católica Global School of Law and Católica Lisbon School of Law. He is also a member of the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law. His research interests and teaching activities lie at the intersection of European law and constitutional law with a focus on digital technologies and policy. Giovanni is the author of the monograph Digital Constitutionalism in Europe: Reframing Rights and Powers in the Algorithmic Society (Cambridge University Press, 2022), and he is one of the co-editors of The Oxford Handbook on Digitial Constitutionalism (OUP, forthcoming).
Host
Ramsha Jahangir
Tech Policy Press - Netherlands
Ramsha Jahangir is an Associate Editor at Tech Policy Press. Her work centers on platform power and regulation, digital authoritarianism, and Internet governance. Previously, Ramsha led Policy and Communications at the Global Network Initiative (GNI), which she now occasionally represents as a Senior Fellow on a range of issues related to human rights and tech policy.