The landmark Congressional hearing starring the top bosses of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google has been moved to Wednesday, according to a House subcommittee.
The chief executive officers of four American mega-tech conglomerates – Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook, and Google's Sundar Pichai – were to have testified Monday before the House Antitrust Subcommittee. But the hearing was canceled for the lying-in state at the Capitol Building of the late Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights crusader.
The hearing is intended to be the culmination of a year-long-plus probe into the four tech behemoths. After the hearing, lawmakers plan to release a document based on their evaluation throughout the investigation and make a proposition for an updated antitrust policy in order to address issues that are distinct to digital marketplaces.
Bezos, the wealthiest man on the planet, has never appeared before any type of hearing in Congress. Joining him are two other popular figures – Zuckerberg (the fourth richest man, worth $88 billion) and Cook. Pichai, the fourth top honcho, has a lower profile but is viewed as a heavyweight nonetheless.
The subcommittee of the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee will look into whether the tech titans have actively sought to undermine and eliminate smaller competitors while not making the best choices for their clients.
"This is not your typical hearing," Andy Serwer and Max Zahn of Yahoo Finance quoted Gigi Sohn as saying in their report. Sohn is a distinguished fellow at Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. He is also a member of the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The antitrust hearing marks the end of a one-year congressional probe into anti-competitive and monopolistic practices, committee member Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said, as per the Yahoo report.
The blockbuster Congressional date will be a critical moment for Big Tech in the U.S. and is expected to set up a showdown between the top executives and cynical lawmakers from both sides. However, many tech lobbying organizations and industry detractors said the hearing is unlikely to tackle fundamental antitrust issues.
The highly-anticipated face-off may be the biggest summation of wealth on a single video call that the world has ever seen. The four CEOs were valued at a consolidated $266 billion as of July 23. That figure is more than the gross domestic product of Finland.
