Four Key Takeaways From Washington’s Big Tech Hearing On ‘Monopoly Power’

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Top row, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, second from right, and bottom row Google CEO Sundar Pichai, left, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, second from left are sworn in remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill.

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Technology
Heads Of Amazon, Apple, Facebook And Google Testify On Big Tech’s Power

The House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic chairman, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, concluded the day-long hearing by hinting at what might lie ahead as lawmakers ponder federal regulations to hold the four companies — worth nearly a combined $5 trillion — to account.

«These companies as they exist today have monopoly power. Some need to be broken up. All need to be properly regulated and held accountable, said Cicilline, adding that antitrust laws written a century ago need to be updated for the digital age.

«When these laws were written, the monopolists were men named Rockefeller and Carnegie, he said. «Today the men are named Zuckerberg, Cook, Pichai and Bezos. Once again, their control of the marketplace allows them to do whatever it takes to crush independent business and expand their own power. This must end.

What’s next? Cicilline will issue a report expected in about a month on the subcommittee’s investigation into the companies, providing a framework for what shape new regulations on Silicon Valley could take.

Here are some key takeaways from the hearing:

Bezos ‘can’t guarantee’ Amazon never used seller data to make its own products

The heart of Wednesday’s hearing was about whether the tech companies exploit their market dominance to squash competition to juice their own products and services.

Critics of Amazon have long pointed to one alleged instance of that: when Amazon notices a third-party product is selling well on its site and uses that information to launch its own private-brand alternative, which critics say Amazon promotes over rivals.

Ever since the Wall Street Journal earlier this year revealed that Amazon was scooping up data from independent sellers and using it to create its own competing products, Amazon executives have categorically denied it.

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill.

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Rep Jim Jordan, D-Ohio, speaks during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

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Notably, the most dramatic moment came not in back and forths while lawmakers were questioning the CEOs, but when Jordan, in his usual sleeves-rolled-up bulldog style, got into a full-throated screaming match with Cicilline over his denied request to allow a lawmaker not on the judiciary committee to be able to ask questions.

«We’re talking about peoples’ liberties here, Jordan bellowed over Cicilline.

«Put your mask on, Jordan was told.