Facebook President and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on October 23, 2019 in Washington, DC, USA. Testified in the hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
Erin Scott | Reuters
The congressional report on Big Tech and no-confidence has been delayed because the House Judiciary subcommittee on no-confidence received new information on Facebook via Instagram, a Democratic source told CNBC.
According to the source, the release of the report was delayed twice from its expected release earlier this week. It was first suspended in 2012 after a whistleblower came forward to provide new information about the Facebook-Instagram deal, in which the social media giant bought the photo-sharing start-up for 1 billion. Critics have suggested that Facebook bought the company primarily to curb a potential source of competition.
The second adjournment came on Monday when Republicans said they wanted to add their own input, according to the source, who expects the findings to be released after those discussions.
CNBC did not immediately learn more details about the alleged whistleblower, such as information shared on Instagram acquisitions or their status or employment status.
A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment. A representative of the Judiciary Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report expects more conclusions from years of scrutiny on Apple Pal, Amazon, Facebook and Google and will suggest potential areas for improvement in antitrust law. The probe was launched in June 2019 as a bilateral effort and some members have praised the co-operative effort.
On Monday, Politico rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. Received and published a draft response by, claiming a response to the proposals in the majority report, which has not yet been released. Buck has been among the most vocal Republican supporters of the no-confidence motion on the subcommittee, and he said it was part of a bilateral effort when he was in Congress.
The draft report outlines areas where it agrees and differs from its Democratic counterparts. According to a draft report published by Politico, Buck seeks “common ground” with Democrats on issues such as adding resources for trust implementers and establishing rules around data portability and interoperability. Among their “non-starters” is the idea of ”glass-stig all for the Internet”, which refers to the law that separated commercial and investment banking weapons. The excuse report suggests that similar structural isolation is indicated in the majority report, although that report has not yet been made public.
Clock: How US antitrust law works, and what it means for Big Tech
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