Lawmakers Take Jabs at Amazon, Big Tech In Antitrust Hearing

Concerns about the power of the major technology companies echoed across the nation’s capital on Tuesday, with politicians in both parties demanding more regulatory scrutiny of the tech giants’ reach and plans for expansion, reports The Wall Street Journal.

In three hearings, which were focused on Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans, alleged Google censorship, as well as on an antitrust examination of Facebook, Google, its owner Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc., the companies took punches on a range of political and policy issues.

“In an effort to promote and continue this new economy, Congress and antitrust enforcers allowed these firms to regulate themselves with little oversight,” House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D., R.I.) said at the outset of a hearing featuring executives from the four companies. “But as a result, the internet has become increasingly concentrated, less open and growingly hostile to innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Rep. David Cicilline

The hearings come as public-opinion polls show that more Americans are concerned about how tech companies protect their personal data and are looking to Washington to step up oversight.

There is also scrutiny over the role of tech companies as gatekeepers. In the past week, President Trump invited critics of Facebook and Google’s YouTube to the White House and promised he would explore regulatory solutions to maintain free speech on social media.

In their testimony, the companies said that they still face competition in markets from advertising to apps, and that their online platforms have facilitated the growth of many other smaller companies.

“We have helped reduce prices and expand choice for consumers and merchants in the U.S. and around the world,” said Adam Cohen, Google’s director of economic policy.

Cicilline’s hearing raises the prospect of Big Tech’s worst fear: actions to break them up or fundamentally restrict their business models.

That threat hasn’t materialized yet, and may not for years, if ever. The Justice Department and the FTC have privately divvied up jurisdiction for potential antitrust probes of the four companies, with the Justice Department preparing for an investigation of Google, WSJ has reported. Those probes could take years to unfold.