The CEOs of major tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook have reportedly agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee as part of an investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the internet economy that will be scheduled in late July.
Politico reports that the CEOs of major tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook have agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in relation to an ongoing investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct in the online marketplace.
Lawmakers will be given the chance to grill some of the tech industry’s wealthiest, most influential leaders over allegations that their companies have actively stifled competition, to the detriment of their users. This will be the first time the chiefs of all four major firms have testified alongside one another before Congress. The antitrust probe is being led by the House antitrust subcommittee and has focused mainly on the conduct of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google.
Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Google’s Sundar Pichai are all expected to testify before Congress in the hearing, which will take place in late July. The agreement was first announced in an interview by subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (R-RI) with the New York Times.
The committee has previously threatened to subpoena the world’s richest man and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos after an Amazon lawyer agreed to make an “appropriate” executive available for testimony but declined to outright state that Bezos would be available.
It is currently unclear whether the CEOs have agreed to appear in person or will attend the hearing virtually, a format which has been adopted during recent hearings due to the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com