Overview

The 2020 Big Tech Antitrust House Judiciary Committee Hearing occurred on July 29th, 2020. The hearing featured the testimony via video conference from the CEOs of some of the largest technology companies in the world who were questioned by members of the House Judiciary Committee on antitrust law and allegations of censorship of conservative thought online. These CEOs that participated were Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google. The Committee aimed to find out whether or not these companies hurt competition and harmed consumers in the American marketplace.

Background

Following a 13-month investigation by the House Judiciary Committee, which resulted in more than 1.3 million documents of evidence, the CEOs of four of the world's four most significant tech companies appeared via teleconference to testify over allegations of antitrust violations (shown below).^[1] The House Judiciary Committee inquired about different breaches related to each respective company. The committee questioned Facebook's acquisition of potential competition, specifically the purchasing of Instagram and WhatsApp. House representatives looked into Apple's AppStore, which they believe improperly charges developers inflated fees for access to the marketplace. Amazon defended itself from accusations of taking advantage of its place as a retailer and manufacturer, placing their products over 3rd party sellers. Finally, Sundar Pichai took questions regarding how Google displays search results and whether or not they censor conservative media outlets.

Developments

Conservative Bias

Some of the Republican members of the committee criticized the companies like Facebook and Google for censoring conservative thought on the platform (shown below).

However, the issue was taken not seriously by everyone. Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted a video of Rep. Greg Steube and said their question about Googling conservative websites and referred to it as a "self-own" (shown below).

Some focused on an exchange between Republican Representative Jim Jordan and Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. Rep. Scanlon accused conservatives on the committee of concentrating on what she called "conspiracy theories," such as censorship of conservative thought on Facebook and Google, instead of the issue at hand: antitrust violations.

Online Reaction

The antitrust hearing was a significant topic of conversation on Reddit. That day, Redditor roku44 posted "Republican lawmakers hijacked a historic antitrust hearing to air conspiracy theories and accuse tech companies of secretly working to undermine Trump" in the /r/politics^[2] subreddit, receiving more than 1,400 points (96% upvoted) in less than 24 hours. Redditor JerseyWiseGuy published "Facebook's Zuckerberg skewered with internal emails during the antitrust hearing" in the /r/news^[3] subreddit, discussing internal emails that show Zuckerberg referring to Instagram as "disruptive" competition ahead of the acquisition. The post received more than 815 points (95% upvoted) in less than 24 hours. Redditor rhb95 posted Tim Cook's opening statement in the /r/apple^[4] subreddit, receiving more than 645 points (94% upvoted) in less than 24 hours (video below).

Elsewhere online, people mocked the hearing, posting memes and remixes of the video. Twitter user @EliotETC shared a version of the Zuckerberg testimony, replacing his video conference with his smoking meat video from 2016. The post received more than 1 million views, 18,000 likes and 5,400 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Others on Twitter commented on Jeff Bezos' eating during the hearing. Twitter user @reillystyley posted a GIF of the moment and wrote, "Jeff Bezos hasn't been asked a single question by Congress yet, so the world's richest man is having a snack…" (shown below).

Search Interest

Not available.

External References