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Reclaiming the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control―and How We Can Take It Back
How the Internet lost its way—and how to fix it
Recovering the Internet is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency.
With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere.
Recovering the Internet is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency.
With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere.
192 pages, Paperback
Published March 17, 2026
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 21, 2026
Sylvain does a useful recounting of the history of the internet that informs his analysis of how tech companies have evaded accountability. This is especially pertinent in his description of the libertarian ethos that informs the laissez-faire stance guiding the present lack of tech regulation.
However, Sylvain could have spent more time detailing the rationales and pathways to solving the problems presented by Big Tech. Given that tech changes so quickly, perhaps a lengthy remedies section could age poorly. Yet engaging with solutions more substantively would have ironed out Sylvain’s narrative and made the book more novel.
Still, this book is a concise, accessible delineation of the problems facing our society due to Big Tech. The less exposure someone has to this field, the more I would recommend Reclaiming the Internet to them.
However, Sylvain could have spent more time detailing the rationales and pathways to solving the problems presented by Big Tech. Given that tech changes so quickly, perhaps a lengthy remedies section could age poorly. Yet engaging with solutions more substantively would have ironed out Sylvain’s narrative and made the book more novel.
Still, this book is a concise, accessible delineation of the problems facing our society due to Big Tech. The less exposure someone has to this field, the more I would recommend Reclaiming the Internet to them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review