This paper provides a framework for understanding why internet platforms matter for democracy and how they should be regulated. The authors describe the two most powerful internet platforms, Facebook and Google, as new public utilities — utilities for democracy — arguing that they should be regulated as public utilities.

This report argues that the central problem of disinformation corrupting American political culture is not Russian spies or a particular social media platform. The central problem is that the entire industry is built to leverage sophisticated technology to aggregate user attention and sell advertising.