4 Key Takeaways From Washington’s Big Tech Hearing On ‘Monopoly Power’ – By Bobby Allyn & Shannon Bond (NPR) / July 30 2020
Four Big Tech CEOs spent Wednesday being grilled — virtually — by House lawmakers, creating a first-ever spectacle that was by turns revealing and, inevitably, awkward.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple’s Tim Cook each brought their distinct mannerisms to bear, but all shared an abundantly cautious approach that extinguished most of the difficult questions with well-rehearsed lines about how their firms do not tilt the playing field in their own favor.
The House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic chairman, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, concluded the day-long hearing by hinting at what might lie ahead as lawmakers ponder federal regulations to hold the four companies — worth nearly a combined $5 trillion — to account.
“These companies as they exist today have monopoly power. Some need to be broken up. All need to be properly regulated and held accountable,” said Cicilline, adding that antitrust laws written a century ago need to be updated for the digital age.
Continue to article: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/30/896952403/4-key-takeaways-from-washingtons-big-tech-hearing-on-monopoly-power
