While questioning Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook about whether their companies were too powerful and involved in monopolistic practices, members of the Judiciary Chamber subcommittee used various internal documents, including some of the CEOs themselves, to highlight the cases in which companies suffocated, or even threatened, their competitors.
Zuckerberg’s emails foreshadowing the $ 1 billion Instagram takeover of Facebook in 2012 were a particular subject of scrutiny. In an email shared by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the CEO referred to Instagram as a “threat” and added: “One thing about startups is that you can often acquire them.”
Zuckerberg responded to questions, noting that the Instagram acquisition was approved at the time by the Federal Trade Commission.
Jayapal added that Systrom interpreted the comments as a threat, telling an investor that he was concerned that Zuckerberg would go into “destruction mode” if he did not agree to sell Instagram.
Zuckerberg denied that was his intention. “It was clear that this was a space where we would compete in one way or another,” he said. “I don’t see those conversations as a threat in any way.”
Neguse also referenced an email from Zuckerberg shortly after the Instagram takeover, containing a statement that Zuckerberg labeled as a probable “joke” in his testimony.
The declaration? “One reason people underestimate the importance of looking at Google is that we can probably always buy any competitive startup, but it will be a while before we can buy Google.”
Amazon and diapers
Jeff Bezos was very hot in his first appearance in Congress, including questions about internal emails about possibly Amazon’s most infamous example that strangles a competitor.
Amazon’s 2010 acquisition of Diapers.com in 2010 for $ 500 million was preceded by efforts to reduce the price of the website and pressure its founder, Marc Lore, to sell, according to The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Amazon era.
Internal emails related to that acquisition appeared in Representative Mary Scanlon’s questioning about Bezos, referring to “a” more aggressive plan to win “against diapers.com” and acknowledged that it “undermines” the site’s business.
Subsequent emails from Amazon executive Peter Krawiec indicated that the strategy had worked to harm diapers.com, saying “they hope to lose a lot of money to the [next] few [years]”
Apple and the app store
Much of the questioning from Apple CEO Tim Cook focused on Apple’s policies governing its App Store. In an exchange, rep Lucy McBath shared internal emails stating that Apple pushed users toward its own Screen Time feature after deleting other apps that allowed parents to track how much time their children spent on screens.
Cook responded by saying that the apps were removed due to concerns about “children’s privacy and safety,” and that the technology those third-party apps were using at the time allowed them to see a child’s screen. She said she couldn’t see the specific email: “Sorry, my eyes aren’t good enough to read it,” but added that there are currently more than 30 parental control apps on the App Store.
Cook did not directly address the emails, but did respond to questions about the 30% fee Apple charges for certain apps, saying it covered services that include programming languages and compilers. He added that Apple does not charge an 84% fee for applications on its platform.
Cook also touted the App Store’s impact on job creation, saying it was responsible for more than 2 million jobs across the United States.
“It has been an economic miracle to allow the person in your basement to start a company, a global company and serve 175 countries in the world,” he said. “It’s amazing, probably the best job creator in the last decade.”
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