Congress hammers bosses of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook

Big Tech executives faced an onslaught of criticism from US congress at a high-stakes anti-trust hearing.

‘History shows that if we don’t keep innovating, someone will replace every company here today’. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testifies to congress on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Big Tech executives faced an onslaught of criticism from US congress on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) at a high-stakes anti-trust hearing that could lay the groundwork for tougher regulation and legal actions against the major internet platforms.

Chief executives Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google were grilled for more than five hours in the unprecedented joint appearance — by video — before a House of Representatives judiciary committee panel investigating market dominance.

While the hearing was called to focus on whether the companies have abused their dominant positions in the market, it veered quickly into other topics including political bias, privacy, dealings with China and how platforms deal with misinformation.

“Simply put, they have too much power,” said representative David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island who chairs the panel conducting a year-long investigation into the business practices of the four companies.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos testifies to congress for the first time on Thursday (AEST). Picture: AFP

Mr Cicilline said the hearing made clear the firms “have monopoly power — some need to be broken up, all need to be properly regulated and held accountable”.

Congress has no formal role in anti-trust enforcement, but several representatives appeared intent on revising US laws to deal with the extraordinary market power and dominance of large technology firms.

Mr Cicilline said the corona­virus outbreak had strengthened the economic clout of the four, saying: “They are likely to emerge (from the pandemic) stronger and more powerful than ever before.”

A few comments from representatives sought to play down the anti-competitive conduct of the companies, which have won praise for innovating and introducing new technologies and offering lifelines during the virus lockdowns.

“Being big is not inherently bad,” said Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin. “Quite the opposite, in America you should be rewarded for success.

Some representatives sought to highlight problems with tech companies operating platforms while competing with rivals on those systems.

Democrat Pramila Jayapal of Washington state questioned Mr Pichai on how Google operated its ad platform, claiming that this hurt other online services such as news outlets. Google “is running the marketplace it’s acting on the buy side and it’s acting on the sell side, which is a major conflict of interest,” Ms Jayapal said.

Mr Cook faced tough questioning over the market power of Apple’s App Store and its treatment of developers.

“We treat all app developers the same,” Mr Cook said. “We do not retaliate or bully people.”

‘We do not retaliate or bully’: Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies on Thursday AEST. Picture: AFP

Mr Bezos, in his first appearance before a congressional committee, defended Amazon’s dealings with third-party sellers after a blistering attack from Mr Cicilline. “Isn’t it true that small businesses have no real option but to rely on Amazon to connect with customers to make online sales?” the committee chair asked.

“We’ve heard from third-party sellers again and again during the course of our investigation that Amazon is the only game in town.”

Mr Bezos disputed the characterisation while adding: “There are a lot of options for small firms. I think we are the best one.”

President Donald Trump, who has accused Facebook and Twitter of censoring his remarks and being biased against conservatives, weighed in with a tweet shortly before the hearing began, and some Republican representatives echoed those remarks. “If Congress doesn’t bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders,” Mr Trump said.

Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, said during the hearing: “I’ll just cut to the chase — Big Tech is out to get conservatives. That’s not a suspicion. That’s not a hunch. That’s a fact.” Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland rejected the argument, saying Facebook and other platforms had failed to contain misinformation from Mr Trump and his supporters, including unverified COVID-19 claims.

“If Facebook is out there trying to repress conservative speech they’re doing a terrible job,” Mr Raskin said.

“I don’t understand this endless whining” from Republicans.

Mr Zuckerberg defended Facebook’s efforts to regulate false information on its platform, denying that the company has a dominant market position or profits from misleading viral content. He said new competitors companies were emerging all the time. “History shows that if we don’t keep innovating, someone will replace every company here today,” he said.

AFP