Google, Facebook, and Amazon CEOs are set to testify in July at an antitrust hearing before the United States House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee--it is a continuation of its probe into competition in the digital market. According to The Epoch Times' previous report, the hearing on July 27 comes amid an unprecedented level of bipartisan scrutiny of major tech companies. The witnesses will be allowed to testify remotely under current House rules.
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Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook CEOs agree to House antitrust hearing It would continue the regulatory fight between Washington legislators and Silicon Valley tech giants. pic.twitter.com/b2dnCbuSIK — Ajay J Pillai (@ajayjpillai) July 2, 2020
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"It is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming," said in a joint statement by Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the House Judiciary Committee Chairman and David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman.
"As we have said from the start, their testimony is essential for us to complete this investigation," they explained.
The witnesses called to testify are Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Before July came, Reuters reported these four CEOs from giant tech companies will testify before the congress, and lawmakers are expected to release a report on the antitrust investigation.
In a statement, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said the witnesses are expected to answer the questions about their compliance with antitrust laws and their anticompetitive practices. Aside from that, the CEOs are expected to explain how the existing laws tend to protect, benefit, and indemnify big tech companies.
What is the antitrust hearing for?
Gaetz said that the practices of the giant tech companies are benefiting the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of the U.S. by censoring Americans, which he claimed is obvious.
US House Judiciary Committee says the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google will testify at a hearing on July 27 related to an antitrust probe (Reuters) https://t.co/tGLVJeFx50 pic.twitter.com/bSVQR8nsdw — imreganreynolds (@imreganreynolds) July 7, 2020
"There are circumstances and experiences that we have uncovered in our investigation where people submit their products and then Amazon finds a way to steal the IP [intellectual property], replicate the tech, and then provide the product at a lower cost, harming the innovator who is often American and benefiting a manufacturer willing to cheat, often in China," said Gaetz.
A wide range of documents, including sensitive internal emails from the giant techs' top executives, were demanded by the House lawmakers from Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple last year. Detailed financial information and other company records were also sought by the House Judiciary Committee leaders and its subcommittee on antitrust. Internal emails about acquisitions over the past decade were also requested from the tech companies' CEOs and other top executives.
