What is the harm in Very Large Online Platforms?

Sally Broughton Micova is a CERRE Academic Co-Director and an Associate Professor in Communications Policy and Politics at the University of East Anglia (UEA). She is also a member of UEA’s Centre for Competition Policy.

Her research focuses on media and communications policy in Europe.

She completed her PhD in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), after which she was an LSE Teaching and Research Fellow in Media Governance and Policy and Deputy Director of the LSE Media Policy Project.

Matt Allison is Senior Public Policy Manager at Vodafone Group, covering Data, Platforms and Artificial Intelligence. Matt has worked at the cutting edge of tech public policy for a decade in a variety of roles spanning industry, consultancy and NGOs. During this time, he has grappled with some of the key public policy challenges facing the technology sector and helped shape the policy landscape as governments and regulators look to confront and harness the rapid growth of digital services.

At Vodafone, Matt is responsible for developing policy and regulatory strategies for data, AI and digital platforms, influencing new regulation and creating alignment between Vodafone’s local market activities. Prior to joining Vodafone Matt was a Manager in the International Public Policy team at Access Partnership, the leading government affairs consultancy in the technology sector where he helped to establish and grow the firm’s Brussels practice, as well as working in the NGO sector focused on the development of Internet safety policy. Matt holds a Master’s degree in Politics, Security and Integration from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), part of University College London. His studies focused on Russian and Eastern European politics, European integration and national identity. Prior to this Matt obtained a Bachelor’s degree in History at the University of East Anglia where he specialised in Soviet history and English economic and social history.

Carolina Lorenzon, International Affairs Director at Mediaset, heads its parent company MFE’s Brussels Office. MFE-MediaforEurope N.V. consolidates the Groups’ activities within the EU, with extensive broadcast, content production and advertsing operations in Italy and Spain. Carolina is at present Chair of the Board at ACT (Association of Commercial Televisions and VOD services in Europe) member of the General Council at CRTV (Confindustria Radio Televisioni, the Italian Association of public and private broadcasters) and Board Member at GII – Gruppo d’Iniziativa Italiana – a cross-sector gathering of Italian companies represented in Brussels.

She graduated in Communication/International Affairs (Pepperdine University, Los Angeles) with a senior thesis on “Low Earth Orbit satellites for the development of telecommunication infrastructure in Least Developed Countries”, and holds a master’s degree in Economics and Global Policy (Università Cattolica, Milano).

Tania Van den Brande is Director of Economics at Ofcom. Before joining Ofcom, she worked at RBB Economics as an Economic Consultant. She advised clients in front of European and national competition authorities in relation to a wide range of competition matters. She holds a Master’s degree in European Economics from the College of Europe, as well as a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of British Columbia.

Laura Seritti is Head of Public Policy at Snap Inc, where she leads the EU public policy and regulatory work in Brussels.

She previously worked on competition policy at the European Commission (DG Competition), focusing on merger control and state aid, and as a public policy consultant. She also carried out research on internal market, digital policy and consumer protection as a visiting researcher at the Perelman Centre of Law of the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Laura holds a Degree in economics from Bocconi University, an MA in European economic studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and an LLM in European law from Université Libre de Bruxelles.