Expect lawmakers to serve companies with highly specific questions about their business based on documents and other evidence gathered during the 13-month investigation. Among other things, Amazon is under scrutiny for its use of seller data; Apple, about its app store policies; Facebook, for its acquisition strategy and its dominance in online advertising; and Google, for their own search and advertising practices. For their part, companies are expected to argue that they have helped countless entrepreneurs and small businesses, and made the United States a leader in innovation amid growing competition from China.
Technology companies are expected to take advantage of the benefits they have brought to American businesses and consumers, and point to the competitive threat that China represents. A copy of Zuckerberg’s testimony obtained by CNN shows that the founder of Facebook will argue that, unlike China and its vision for the Internet, which is “focused on very different ideas,” Facebook came to its success “the American way: we started with nothing and we provide better products that people find valuable. “
Each of the testifying executives will come with different experiences with lawmakers. Apple’s Tim Cook testified in 2013, before the backlash against the technology really took hold, and he was largely unscathed, discussing the most delicate points of global tax policy with lawmakers. Alphabet’s now CEO, Sundar Pichai, was cool under pressure at a hearing covering Google’s data practices and claims of political bias held by the House Judiciary Committee in late 2018. And the House of Representatives and Senate Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook were questioned for 10 hours. company history in privacy.
As for Congress, the hearing will likely lead to a report by the antitrust panel of the House Judiciary Committee, followed by possible legislation to control the tech industry or to revise the nation’s competition laws.
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