Open Communications Platforms: The Physical Infrastructure as the Bedrock of Innovation and Democratic Discourse in the Internet Age

This article offers a normative perspective on regulating communications platforms. The primary economic goal for communications platforms should be to enhance progress -promoting the economic well being of consumers by expanding output and distributing it in an equitable manner.1 The primary political goal should be to enrich civic discourse -improving the ability of citizens to participate effectively in writing the rules under which they live.2 By doing so, a more informed populace will actually be shaping the political institutions in which they live, and this will reflect a closer fit between communications platforms and other realms of society.3