Computer & Communication Industry Association

The Unintended Consequences of Internet Regulation 

PublishedApril 12, 2023
Written By
  • Michael Masnick

Over the last few years, there has been an increasing drumbeat for greater internet regulation. But even the most well-intended policy approaches may have completely unexpected negative consequences that may outweigh the benefits sought by the regulation in the first place. Those benefits can be difficult to achieve and difficult to measure, while this paper finds that such regulations frequently have a negative impact on investment in covered internet companies, with declines ranging from 15% to 73%.

Read Download Key Takeaways Press Release
Research
January 12, 2026

Repealing Section 230 Would Cost Americans Over $2.2 Trillion

Section 230 of the Communications Act (Section 230) importantly places legal accountability on creators of speech, rather than those who merely display it. It also allows digital services to safely mo...
  • Content Moderation
Read more
Research
December 15, 2025

Fair Use in the U.S. Economy – 2025 Edition

A range of exceptions to copyright protection under U.S. law, classified here under the broad heading of fair use, sustain companies that represent nearly one-fifth of total U.S. GDP. This study fi...

    Copyright
Read more
Research
November 18, 2025

2025 Survey of Product Impact in the Connected Economy: Artificial Intelligence

The CCIA Research Center's 2025 Survey of Product Impact in the Connected Economy: Artificial Intelligence finds that generative AI is the most rapidly adopted general purpose technology in history...

  • Digital Economy
Read more
Research
October 28, 2025

UK Live Streaming Survey Results

A new survey of UK residents finds that livestreaming has become one of the UK’s most valued and socially engaging forms of digital media, worth more than £17 billion (US$23 billion) annually to...

    Emerging Technology
Read more