Lawmakers clobbered Big Tech CEOs on Wednesday with accusations of political bias and using ruthless business practices to crush and absorb competitors, knocking Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg…
Lawmakers clobbered Big Tech CEOs on Wednesday with accusations of political bias and using ruthless business practices to crush and absorb competitors, knocking Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos back on their heels.
The two CEOs were joined by leaders of Apple and Google in defending their businesses via videoconference in front of the House Judiciary Committee antitrust subcommittee, where they attempted to quell calls for an anti-trust breakup of their companies and federal intervention against accused censorship of users.
The assault on the tech giants came from every direction.
Democrats slammed the companies’ monopolistic grip on the marketplace. Republicans charged the CEOs with silencing conservative voices.
“As gatekeepers to the digital economy, these platforms enjoy the power to pick winners and losers, to shake down small businesses and enrich themselves while choking off competitors,” said Rep. David Cicilline, Rhode Island Democrat and chairman of the subcommittee. “Their ability to dictate terms, call the shots, upend entire sectors, and inspire fear represent the powers of a private government. Our founders would not bow before a king, nor should we bow before the emperors of the online economy.”
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, trained his fire on claims of censorship by the tech sites instead of antitrust and competition issues.
“I’ll just cut to the chase: Big Tech’s out to get conservatives,” he said. “That’s not a suspicion. That’s not a hunch. That’s a fact.”
Mr. Jordan accused Google of censoring and targeting conservative websites and lamented that Democrats did not call Twitter to testify as Republicans had requested.
