On Wednesday, the CEOs of the four largest companies in the US technology sector – which are also the four largest companies in general – will testify before the House of Congress committee that deals with antitrust, that is, monopolies and competition. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet (the company that controls Google) will have to answer questions from US MPs who for months have been investigating the old and widespread allegation that these companies have achieved dominance. on the market, and de facto monopoly, avoiding competition laws.
It is a long-awaited testimony and which, according to American newspapers, could mark the beginning of a new approach in the regulation of the technology sector, the internet and social networks in the United States. Except for Bezos, it is not the first time that CEOs testify before congress: but they had never done it all together. They will not be physically present at Congress, due to the coronavirus epidemic, but they will intervene by videoconference and will be questioned all together.
What the committee would like to demonstrate, by questioning those directly concerned for the first time, is that the largest American technology companies have achieved a monopolistic and enormously influential position by taking advantage of out-of-date competition laws and unsuitable for regulating complex and modern sectors such as those of the internet, technological devices and social networks. It's a widely shared accusation, usually accompanied by the claim that companies like Facebook, Apple, Google and Facebook have become – through questionable methods – too big and powerful, and should be forced to split into smaller companies and businesses. more limited. It's a popular position especially among Democratic politicians: in particular it was a workhorse of former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.
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The committee that will question Zuckerberg, Cook, Bezos and Pichai has been working for months to gather evidence in support of these allegations, which will be revealed to the public starting today and which will be asked to account by the CEOs. It involves a huge amount of documents – 1.3 million in all – and hours and hours of depositions, including those made in the past by Zuckerberg and Pichai. It is the largest congressional investigation of this type since the one involving Microsoft in 2001, again for antitrust issues.
The behaviors of these companies subject to the investigations of the committee are many, and generally concern the strategy of copying or acquiring rival companies, taking advantage of their monopolistic position to impose their own rules. In all likelihood, the hearing will discuss, for example, the acquisition by Facebook of companies that could have competed in its sector, such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
As for Bezos, however, he will probably be asked to account for an article in the Wall Street Journal according to which Amazon examines the data on purchases of objects sold by third parties on its platform to better plan the launch of similar products sold directly by Amazon. For Apple, however, one of the most important accusations concerns the percentage withheld on purchases on the iPhone App Store, equal to 30 percent. As for Google, however, the committee members will likely focus on its dominance in the search engine sector.
