On Wednesday July 29 the CEOs of Big Tech companies are going to be testifying before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. As of now, it is expected that Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, and Tim Cook are all going to attend the hearing, which is going to be about “ongoing investigation of competition in the digital marketplace”.
How can I watch it and when will it begin?
Those looking to view the hearing can go to CSPAN on July 29th at 12:00 pm ET/9:00 am PT. The hearing, which is going to be taking place at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C., will be live streamed on the channel.
Watch here:
What will the hearing address?
The hearing will largely address Big Tech companies’ possible antitrust violations. It goes without saying that Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google have all dominated their industry and have been accused of monopolistic tactics.
While Amazon hosts a huge inventory of products that are sold online, it also offers its own products in competition against the products it sells on its platform. When the WSJ reported about how Amazon uses data from the products it sells to set the pricing of its own products that would be sold in competition to other products, the House ended up asking Bezos to testify as well.
Both Facebook and Google are dominating the realm of digital advertising, whereas Apple has been dealing with antitrust allegations with regard to how it operates its App Store. Even the European Union has also launched an investigation into the App Store after allegations of Apple promoting its proprietary apps over other similar third-party apps came to light.
“Since last June, the Subcommittee has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital platforms and the adequacy of existing antitrust laws and enforcement,” read a joint statement released by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler and the chairman of Antitrust Subcommittee David Cicilline.
Big Tech companies play a huge role in the way the internet is shaped and influence the internet experience of every individual. It is, therefore, essential to stay informed about such developments and understand the impact of these events on the individual liberty online.
How will Big Tech CEOs respond to questioning?
We’ve covered that in more depth here.
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