Tech C.E.O.s From Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to Testify Before Congress

Amazon-funded economic consultants have in recent months argued that the e-commerce company’s business model, which is not grounded in selling ads like Google and Facebook, makes it less likely to violate antitrust laws. Last week, Amazon also released a report on small business, saying sales by third-party sellers grew 26 percent in the past year, outpacing Amazon’s own sales directly to consumers.

Google has said that the search and advertising tech markets that it dominates are changing fast. More than half of all searches for products on the internet originate on Amazon, Google’s lobbyists have said.

And Facebook’s Washington staff has pointed to competition from China, particularly from the popular video app TikTok, as evidence that competition in social media abounds. The Chinese-owned app is in the cross hairs of the Trump administration, which has threatened to ban it for national security reasons.

Big Tech’s rivals have also jockeyed to have their gripes brought up at the hearing, even if for just a few minutes. The House subcommittee has been flooded with proposed questions, documents and letters from the companies’ competitors, according to congressional staff and rivals.

Spotify, for instance, submitted questions about Apple’s dominance of the App Store. GreatFire, a China-based group, sent a letter with nine questions for Mr. Cook about Apple’s censorship of certain apps in China. Blix, a company whose email app competes with Apple and that is suing Apple in federal court for patent infringement, sent five questions to the subcommittee, including one on why Apple ranked its own apps ahead of rivals’ offerings in its App Store.

This month, David Heinemeier Hansson, the co-founder of Basecamp, a project-management tool, said he also briefed lawmakers on a recent public spat with Apple. Apple had denied Basecamp’s new email app from appearing in the App Store because it charged customers outside of Apple’s payment system. After Mr. Heinemeier Hansson complained publicly, Apple permitted the app with some minor changes.

The subcommittee’s members, who have already held five hearings about the tech giants, were informed and thoughtful during his briefing, Mr. Heinemeier Hansson said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/technology/amazon-apple-facebook-google-antitrust-hearing.html