Marshall Van Alstyne

Now accepting papers for the 13th Platform Strategy Summit. We invite scholars from economics, management, computer science, policy & law. $1000 best paper prize. Pls share #platforms #AI #regulation #strategy #conference @buquestrom.bsky.social

Hell yes

Wishing you galloping success in the new year

Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland U.S. President Donald Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland. Trump didn't provide details Friday.

Will #Congress please constrain the charlatan in the Whitehouse?! The exec branch has neither authority to set tariffs nor authority to declare war. apnews.com/article/denm...

Indeed! This article tries to explain why concentration worsened and also offer ideas for what to do about it.

Interested in why regulating digital platforms has proven so challenging, and what to do about it? Latest writing on platform abuses, diagnoses, and solutions. Comments welcome. tinyurl.com/mrry4a8u #platforms #antitrust #misinformation #regulation #GDPR #DSA #Governance #CompetitionPolicy

Happy Holidays to Friends & Family!

Do you have a platform challenge? #Strategy #Launch? #Monetization? #OpenInnovation? Student teams will produce a 25-page solution for you to boost their learning. Any platform topic in course below possible. Call for projects here: tinyurl.com/PlatStratKit26 Pls Share

What happens when AI makes answers really cheap? Human questions become ever more important. We also need the skill to challenge those answers lest we become complacent and miss the bigger picture.

New work with Sangeet Choudary shows how to do this: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/sieyk...

Call for proposals

Do you have a platform challenge? #Strategy #Launch? #Monetization? #OpenInnovation? #Growth Student teams will produce a 25-page solution for you to boost their learning. Any platform topic is possible. Call for projects here: tinyurl.com/PlatStrat26 Pls Share.

Robots trying to cheat human buyers

New working paper on reducing fraud and deception by AI agents using mechanism design. Comments are very welcome.

Market Design Interventions for Safer Agentic AI aisel.aisnet.org/icis2025/gen...

Someone ready to march!

Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S. Americans' trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly is at a new low of 28%.

New poll shows only 28% of Americans trust the media - lowest ever. In related news, you shouldn't trust a Tweet. news.gallup.com/poll/695762/...

Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S. Americans' trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly is at a new low of 28%.

New poll shows only 28% of Americans trust the media - lowest ever. In related news, you shouldn't trust a Tweet. news.gallup.com/poll/695762/...

Judge takes down Trump’s ‘bullying’ in victory for pro-Palestine students Reagan-appointed judge rebukes top officials for targeting pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses

Do non-citizens have free speech rights in the US? Historic ruling: yes they do! www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

New report ranks LI, Insta, FB, YouTube, TikTok & X for prevalence and monetization of misinformation
science.feedback.org/first-measur...

Trump signs proclamation imposing annual $100,000 fee on H-1B visas Move deals potentially major blow to US tech industry, which relies heavily on workers from India and China

The new $100,000 fee for an H1-B visa to the US is idiotic. It's hard to design a policy more likely to move hi tech jobs overseas www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Dozens of heatwaves linked to carbon emissions from specific companies Nearly one-quarter of heatwaves would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without global warming — and can be attributed to the emissions of individual energy producers.

New research attributes probability of heat events to individual companies www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The summary of the MIT Platform Summit is now available ide.mit.edu/publication-... @mitsloanphd.bsky.social

The silencing Colbert, The Washington Post, Columbia University … and on it goes

The great silencing: Colbert (comedy), Washington Post (news), Columbia (education), NIH (medicine), NOAA (climate). Killing free speech is how democracy dies
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

BU Platform Summit July 15 features great rsch on social media, using AI to build platforms, decentralization, M&A strategies, robo taxis...

$1000 best paper prize.

Program: questromworld.bu.edu/platformstra...

Registration: questromworld.bu.edu/platformstra...

We look forward to seeing you!

Recommended reading - The Anti Autocracy Handbook

"Towards Efficient Data Sharing in Platform Markets" - Network Law Review Platforms collect valuable data that they do not share. Welfare then suffers as information asymmetry produces market failures. Current proposals to address this, however, fail because they grant acce...

How can we create value from data but give users more control? One possibility is a just published proposal for a new data right www.networklawreview.org/data-sharing/

The MIT Platform Summit is here this July. See speakers and registration at platforms.mit.edu @g2parker.bsky.social

Trump attacking student visas completely undercuts his narrative that his immigration policies rid the US of gang members, rapists, and drug dealers. He's making unwelcome some of the most talented people in the world. The damage will last a decade.

Opinion | Three Well-Tested Ways to Undermine an Autocrat

3 tested ways to undermine autocrats - mockery, highlight corruption, human examples www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/o...

Trump administration revokes Harvard's ability to enroll international students International students make up more than a quarter of Harvard University's student body. Harvard says the government's actions, which could cut off a major revenue stream, are "unlawful."

International students upend their lives to join American science, bringing their novel insights that drive innovation.

Now, they are being illegally targeted by Trump, because Harvard won't back down.

Classic bully behavior.

We Stand Up for International Students.

www.npr.org/2025/05/22/n...

Trump administration revokes Harvard's ability to enroll international students Harvard can no longer enroll international students after the Trump administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students. The school called the decision "unlawful."

We are alarmed by the Trump administration’s latest escalation against Harvard University. International students are a vital part of our universities and our nation.

By causing a great deal of chaos for Harvard students and their communities, this action is as harmful as it is unlawful.

Trump administration bars Harvard from enrolling international students | CNN The Trump administration on Thursday revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, marking a sharp escalation in the battle over the Ivy League school’s autonomy in the face o...

Not only is this illegal, as Harvard says, it also punishes all international students for the actions of a few. And it's hurting Americans who benefit from having the perspectives and knowledge of brilliant young people who study here. www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/u...

The damage goes far beyond Harvard. Threats to academia promote a brain drain of talent across students and across universities that has serious long term consequences for American innovation over the long term.