- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said social media is a “nuance-busting machine” during a landmark antitrust hearing that also featured Facebook, Google and Apple executives on Wednesday.
- The comment was made in response to a question asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican, who polled all four CEOs for their opinion on “canceling the culture.”
- The hearing was designed for Congress to criticize executives about the anti-competitive business practices used by their firms, but as expected, lawmakers went astray and delved into issues like privacy of user data and electoral interference.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said social media is a “nuance-busting machine” during an antitrust hearing in Congress on Wednesday.
The CEO’s comment was in response to a question asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, who asked the four executives their position on the so-called culture of cancellation, or the collective call or “cancellation” of a public figure. after offensive comments or actions made by that person.
As part of his question, Jordan also cited the resignation of controversial New York Times editor Bari Weiss, who wrote a letter on his way out of the media in mid-July. Following widespread criticism of Weiss on Twitter by users, as well as many of his NYT colleagues, the opinion editor resigned, citing in part the Times’ culture of censoring centrist and conservative views.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg replied that he and his company strongly believed in free expression, while Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed skepticism that the hard and fast “cancellation” of people online is always beneficial.
The hearing, a highly anticipated investigation by the Chamber’s Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, was designed to investigate CEOs of Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook about the anti-competitive business practices that have contributed to the monopoly of companies in the marketplace. .
But reps sometimes strayed from the topic, delving into issues like user privacy, electoral interference, and, in Jordan’s case, canceling the culture.
You can see Business Insider’s live blog about the audience here.
