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Four of the world’s most powerful CEOs – Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple – were questioned yesterday in an antitrust hearing against the potential monopolisation by large corporations controlling their markets.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Google’s Sundar Pichai all faced challenging questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, who brought newly released documents with contrary evidence of fair conduct against the tech companies..
Google
Google was hounded for misusing information and controlling what is seen, i.e. preferring profitability over relevance in search. Google has been found to have stolen content from other sites to advance its own presence, and threatening businesses that they would be removed from Google’s search engine if they fought against this. It was said that Google is like a “walled garden” where people are directed to sites Google permits to be at the top, and hiding others which are detrimental to Google’s growth. The fairness that users are forced to pay for advertising to grow their business, directly advancing Google’s profits and giving further power was considered. It was also highlighted that the more user data Google has, the more money it has, and the fair use of this data was interrogated.
Facebook
Facebook was questioned heavily on its fair use of user data and the information that was allowed online, such as fake news. Mark Zuckerberg was unable to reassure the committee that political elections haven’t and won’t again be undermined by biased posts and advertising, as has been shown to have happened in the 2016 US presidential election. Facebook was confronted about the misuse of user data, which Facebook leverages to its benefit. Facebook’s alleged monopoly tactics were also discussed, e.g. buying competitors such as Instagram and Whatsapp, with the aim to neutralise these competitors.
Amazon
Jeff Bezos was questioned mainly on whether Amazon uses data to undermine its third-party merchants, i.e. the marketplace sellers on its platform, to which Bezos was unable to offer a conclusive answer. It was shown that Amazon was prepared to lose $200m in order to undercut another online sales business. It was also found that seller information was used against them as knowledge for Amazon to know how to undercut smaller businesses. Some of Amazon’s sellers were quoted as stating that they experienced “bullying, fear and panic” on the platform. Bezos couldn’t guarantee that Amazon’s data policy wasn’t being violated by Amazon and sellers information wasn’t being misused. It was also unexplained why sellers fees were rising so quickly and high; currently up to 30% of product price.
Apple
Cook was challenged on why Apple has restricted certain apps in their App Store over others, especially when they offer very similar products or use the same tools. The same questions were asked in regards to why Apple removed apparently competing apps by other companies/developers, which were to Apple’s own offerings. Neither interrogations could be answered. It was inquired if confidential information was misused for the benefit of Apple, which Cook denied.
International ties with China were brought in, such as questions as to whether the Chinese military directly benefited from Google. All four CEOs were asked for recommendations on how the US government could better protect against the Chinese government stealing technology from American companies. No concrete responses were given on this, and it was rather confusing that these CEOs were asked such a politically loaded question.
Chairman Mr Cicilline concluded that it is clear these four companies do have monopoly power and that “some need to be broken up, and all need to be regulated and held accountable”. Bezos, Zuckerberg, Cook and Pichai were compared to Rockefeller and Carnegie, in that they do “whatever it takes to crush individual businesses”. The findings and solutions from this hearing will soon be reported in full by international media.