Abstract: In her talk, Professor Anu Bradford challenges the common view that more stringent regulation of the digital economy inevitably compromises innovation and undermines technological progress. The existing technological gap between the United States and the EU should not therefore be attributed to the laxity of American laws and the stringency of European digital regulation. Instead, there are more foundational features of the American legal and technological ecosystem that have paved the way for U.S. tech companies’ rise to global prominence—features that the EU has not been able to replicate to date. By severing tech regulation from its allegedly adverse effect on innovation, Bradford seeks to advance a more productive scholarly conversation on the costs and benefits of digital regulation. It also directs governments deliberating tech policy away from a false choice between regulation and innovation while drawing their attention to a broader set of legal and institutional reforms that are necessary for tech companies to innovate and for digital economies and societies to thrive.