A conversation on the power of big tech corporations, free information, and social media censorship with Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project and a visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Columbia University, and Matthew Taibbi, author, journalist, and podcaster, moderated by Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the Department of Sociology, Catholic University of America

Today, more than ever, large corporations are exercising forms of power that traditionally were the monopoly of the state. In particular, big tech companies control the flow of news and information and have power of censorship over what gets published or broadcast (e.g., Facebook's and Twitter's censorship of politically undesirable news, Amazon's ability to marginalize books, etc.). Ultimately, no matter which side of the political spectrum one belongs to, what is at stake is democracy itself and, at a deeper level, free conscience and individual liberty. Speakers will address these dramatic issues and what can be done, if anything, to protect these essential aspects of our individual and social life.