Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified over the course of two days this week before the FTC as part of an antitrust investigation into the social media giant.
Politico reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified over the course of two days this week before the FTC as part of its antitrust investigation into Facebook’s business practices. Zuckerberg delivered his testimony remotely due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
Zuckerberg’s testimony comes shortly after a landmark hearing before Congress in which Zuckerberg testified alongside the CEO’s of Amazon, Apple, and Google, all of which defended their companies from claims of antitrust and monopolistic behavior.
The FTC declined to comment on Zuckerberg’s testimony, a Facebook spokesperson provided a statement which reads: “We are committed to cooperating with the US Federal Trade Commission’s inquiry and answering the questions the Agency may have.”
Facebook is currently facing several antitrust investigations outside of the FTC’s. A coalition of state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, opened an investigation into Facebook in September. Facebook, alongside another number of tech firms, has been investigated by the House Judiciary Committee since last July.
The FTC fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 as a result of a years-long investigation into the company’s relationship with the political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica and other privacy breaches.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) grilled Zuckerberg over text messages obtained which suggested that he threatened to copy Instagram as a new Facebook product if the photo-sharing app’s co-founder Kevin Systrom refused to sell the app to Facebook. During the hearing in July, Jayapal said: “When the dominant platform threatens its potential rivals, that should not be a normal business practice.”
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
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