via CNBC:
- Representatives from Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook will appear before the House Antitrust Subcommittee on July 16.
- The hearing will focus on “dominant platforms and innovation.”
- The FTC and DOJ are said to be looking into large tech companies for potential antitrust cases.
Representatives from four of the big five tech companies — Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook — will appear before the House Antitrust Subcommittee on July 16 for a hearing on “dominant platforms and innovation,” the subcommittee announced Tuesday.
The four big tech companies are each sending policy executives to testify before the subcommittee. They include:
- Google’s Director of Economic Policy, Adam Cohen
- Amazon’s Associate General Counsel, Nate Sutton
- Facebook’s Head of Global Policy Development, Matt Perault
- Apple’s Chief Compliance Officer, Kyle Andeer
In a release announcing the hearing, the subcommittee said it would “examine the impact of market power of online platforms on innovation and entrepreneurship.” Experts such as Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu will also be in attendance.
The hearing comes as the Federal Trade Commission and and Department of Justice are said to be looking into large tech companies as they build a potential antitrust case. Shares of Amazon, Facebook and Google’s parent company Alphabet all dropped earlier last month following a string of reports that said the agencies were preparing antitrust probes into the companies.
Meanwhile, regulation and a potential breakup of the largest tech companies has turned into a campaign issue for the 2020 presidential election. Most notably, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called for Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook to all be broken up.