House Committee Grills Big Tech CEOs

The chief executives of Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google faced relentless criticism at a congressional hearing Wednesday, with Democrats and Republicans alike challenging their business practices over more than five contentious hours, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The session, conducted via videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic, laid bare deep-rooted frustration with some of the country’s most successful companies, at a moment when Americans rely on them more than ever.

It also highlighted the threat to the companies from ongoing investigations by antitrust authorities, with lawmakers citing internal company emails and witness interviews as evidence that the platforms improperly abuse their dominant position.

The tone of the questions, directed at Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai, was almost universally hostile.

The executives defended their companies’ practices and said that they face stiff competition that forces them to serve customers and innovate.


Lawmakers whipsawed between topics, from how the companies moderate social media posts to the tactics they used to gain sizable positions in markets from digital advertising to e-commerce. The CEOs had sought to testify jointly, an approach that made it harder for the interrogators to sustain pressure on any one witness.

Zuckerberg faced a series of questions about Facebook’s acquisition strategy. Mr. Pichai defended Google from a litany of accusations, ranging from taking advantage of its dominant online search engine to its work in China.

Lawmakers in both parties accused Mr. Bezos of presiding over bullying of independent sellers on the Amazon marketplace, citing reports in The Wall Street Journal that employees had used seller data to launch competing products.

Apple got fewer questions than the other companies, with Mr. Cook defending its policies on its App Store.

GOP lawmakers directed a series of questions at Google, and to a lesser extent Facebook, for a perceived mistreatment of conservatives on social media. “Big tech is out to get conservatives,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio). “If it doesn’t end, there have to be consequences.”