The Hill: Five takeaways as panel grills tech CEOs
The long anticipated confrontation between the chief executives of America’s largest tech firms and Congress produced several memorable moments Wednesday and gave important insight into the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust’s investigation into competition in digital marketplaces.
The hearing — featuring Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai teleconferencing in — went more than five hours, with each lawmaker on the panel getting three rounds of questioning.
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Wednesday’s hearing was a big break from that tradition. Members of the subcommittee asked pointed, well-researched questions and gave CEOs minimal opportunities to dodge touchy subjects with strong follow-ups and use of documents collected during the investigation.
Sarah Miller, director of the anti-monopoly American Economic Liberties Project, noted Wednesday that the hearing “has been one of the most remarkable things I’ve witnessed in politics.”
“Members are deeply educated about complex issues of market structure and corporate behavior,” she tweeted.
The subcommittee is likely to release its report last this year, which could come around the same time that the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general all also wrap up their investigations into Big Tech companies.
The next few months could represent a sea change in how Washington interacts with Silicon Valley.