Press Release

Examining State Tech Policy Actions in 2021

Both Republican and Democratic-led states are considering technology regulation around such areas as the digital divide, data privacy, and content moderation. In a new analysis, AAF’s Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jennifer Huddleston and Liam Fulling consider what technology policy issues states can regulate helpfully and which should be left to the federal government. 

Huddleston and Fulling conclude:  

As these most recent state legislative sessions reveal, many states are engaged in the same tech policy debates that are occurring at a federal level. For matters that remain within a state’s borders, such as improving its connectivity levels or the appropriate levels of regulation, states can move more swiftly than the federal government and establish creative policy solutions that could serve as models for tech policy in other states or at a federal level. Because many tech policy debates are naturally interstate in their nature, however, state actions on issues such as data privacy, net neutrality, and content moderation risk creating a disruptive patchwork that could deter innovation and diminish the benefits of existing technologies for its own citizens.

Read the analysis

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