Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google to testify before Congress - 12pm 7/29 - Wed

[Valli6]

Not sure this will be worth watching since Nadler is in charge, but here’s some info and links to livestreams. Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai to speak.

HEARING - Jul 29, 2020 | 12:00pm EDT
Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law

Links:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8QL...ture=emb_title
- https://republicans-judiciary.house....ook-and-google
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVv...QAl6ovogDum4hA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBFD...ture=emb_title
- C-SPAN 3 https://www.c-span.org/video/?474236...-antitrust-law

Summary from https://www.fastcompany.com/90533893...tner=feedburne

7-29-20
BY MICHAEL GROTHAUS - 1 MINUTE READ

Today is a historic day when it comes to Big Tech in America. The CEOs of four of America’s biggest tech giants—Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google owner Alphabet—will appear before Congress together for the first time ever. Another first: Today is the first time Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has ever appeared before Congress.

Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai are scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel to confront claims by rivals that they use their market dominance to hurt competition. The hearing kicks off today, Wednesday, July 29 at 12 p.m. ET.

As Reuters reports, all four tech companies are set to argue that they have strong competitors. Apple, for example, will likely argue that its App Store isn’t dominant, because of Google’s Play store. Facebook is likely to use TikTok as an example of a strong competitor, and Amazon is likely to give a shoutout to Walmart and its growing online presence.

Two of the companies—Facebook and Google—may also be in for a worse walloping than Amazon and Apple. That’s because lawmakers, particularly Republican lawmakers, are likely to bring up concerns over supposed censoring of right-wing views.

However, another thing industry watchers and armchair pundits will be watching for is how informed the lawmakers themselves are. In previous grillings of tech executives, lawmakers seemed to have trouble grasping how the tech industry operates.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90533893...ner=feedburner

[Valli6]

The twitter guy was invited but wouldn't come.
"Guests" have been sworn in and are now making initial statements about themselves and their businesses. They're all bringing up their admiration for John Lewis.

[dannno]

Democrats asking $#@!ty questions as usual.

[Valli6]

Democrats asking $#@!ty questions as usual.

I'm actually surprised they managed to find anything critical to say.

[dannno]

I'm actually surprised they managed to find anything critical to say.

It's about anti-trust, they want more control over these companies.

Hopefully these execs realize the right is on their side on this issue and if they want to keep it that way they need to stop discriminating against the right on their platforms.

[Valli6]

Rep Ken Buck (R) calling out Pinchai (Google) over being okay with China's many bad behaviors - including corporate espionage.

Hank Johnson (Guam might tip over) keeps cutting off Tim Cook. Says some developers are favored over others for their App store. No doubt sees discrimination.

Matt Gaetz up now. Wants Pinchar to pledge that google won’t adopt anti-police policies being called for by google employees. Talking about Google's pro-China military stance - Peter Theil called it treasonous - when it won't work with American military. Pinchar denies being pro-China.

Rep Jamie Raskin bringing up Steve Bannon... race... hate speech, boogaloo ... apparently facebook not showing enough support for his pet activist groups - wants more censorship from Facebook. Asking about fake accounts that "spread hate and disinformation".

10 minute recess to fix a technical problem with one of their witnesses. Must be Bezos? He hasn't been talking.

[Anti Globalist]

The twitter guy was invited but wouldn't come.
"Guests" have been sworn in and are now making initial statements about themselves and their businesses. They're all bringing up their admiration for John Lewis.

After what happened recently with those front line doctors, I'm not surprised Twitter CEO doesn't want to show up.

[Valli6]

Kelly Armstrong (R) asking Google/Pinchai about consequences of GDPR? I don't understand what that's about - but he also refers to bias , 4th amendment - Something about Geo-warrants?
(Cops getting warrants of your online behavior?)

Jayapal

Rep Greg Steube (R- Fla) tells Pinchai about his own trouble trying to google gateway pundit and noticing something has changed recently. Also says G-mail accounts are suddenly junking conservative emails including his own campaign emails to supporters and his own parents. Wants to know about employee biases and Spam folder algorithms.

Val Demings (D Fla) googles enormous market power, double click...

Here's Jim Jordon: Is Google tailoring features to help Joe Biden in 2020 election?...YES or NO?
"We don't"
"But you did it in 2016... silent donation.... I want to make sure you don't do it again in 2020"
refers to email about "increasing the latino vote in key states" - Nevada and Florida aka swing states.
Bringing up WHO. Wants assurances that they wont help Biden or silence conservatives.
"You have my comittment."

Rep Mary Gay Scanlon (D) snottily suggesting that was a conspiracy theory.
Jordan "We have the email!"
ARGUING.. someone yells "Put your mask on!"
Scanlon now taliking about diapers.com being undermined by amazon - "price war".

Rep Joe Neguse (D-Colorado)...facebook purchasing and replicating competition = monopoly

Rep Lucy McBath (D Georgia) amazon preventing some 3rd party sellers from selling, without giving a reason? "a pattern of behavior"... sellers still waiting for response... say amazon is the only game in town. Bezos doesn't think thats going on... "bullying fear and panic"...

Dave Cicciline (D RI) amazon refering to 3rd party sellers as "internal competitors"

[AngryCanadian]

Democrats asking $#@!ty questions as usual.

I am not sure how the democrats are likely even going to win in Nov after these riots and rioting.

[Brian4Liberty]

Rep. Steube is calling out Google about censorship that he has experienced. Good stuff. Conservative websites being blacked out of Google searches, his campaign emails being sent to spam in Gmail (when they never were before).

[Valli6]

Sensebrenner: We don't need to change anti-trust laws - It's a question of enforcement. Not a problem with the law. Brings up ATT being broken up in 1984. Sensenbrenner (R-WI) asks if applying ATT thing to Amazon or google - How does that help consumers? They agree it doesn't.

Rep Pramilla Jayapal (D Wash) Does facebook copy competitors? Threaten to clone competitors products while trying to buy them?... instagram.. threatened instgram if they didn't let them buy them up... Zuckerberg disagrees. ...brings up snapchat...

Ken Buck (R-Col) - counterfeit products allowed on amazon, including from China - using slave/forced labor... Wants them to say they won't use slave labor. Asks the same of Tim Cook and Sundar Pinchai. They also they wouldn't tolerate it.

Jamie Raskin - Agrees with Buck about forced labor... aquisitions... "buying market position"...

Gaetz: Says Pinchai's response at earlier response was deceptive because google works with agencies that work with Chinese military... Bias...who decides what's fringe... Pinchai had previously stated they have no Manual review tool... memo from the daily caller refers to a watchlist, creating lists - Is that done manually or not? Previous claim was (from previous hearing?) was wrong - There is a manual component to blacklisting - manual black list targets conservatives, Trump supporters... Pinchai disagrees... Gaetz points out that their own employees have said otherwise.

Nadler: talking about journalism... Google and Facebook profiting most...

Steube: Wants to pick up where he left off... Refers to hydrochloroquine video, videos about sending kids back to school, being removed... Wants to know how these opinions violate rules? Asks Zuckerberg how moderators are chosen... Explain the approval process for third party fact-checkers...

Hank Johnson asking Bezos about counterfeit products... says Amazon still makes money from counterfeit products.. Why aren't they more aggressive about it? Interrupts... why aren't they responsible for keeping all counterfeits off amazon... pop sockets... Wants explanation... also says they're making companies pay extra to not get buried in search rankings...

Brief recess.

[devil21]

I'm sure things will change immediately after this hearing is completed. /s

One Congressman just asked Bezos if Amazon underprices Alexa to corner the smart speaker market. Bezos said sometimes but that's business. Of course the Congressman didn't mention that his only competition is the guy in the other panel, Google's Pichai. This isn't a case of anti-trust for each corporation. The real anti-trust here is that all of these corporations WORK TOGETHER to create one digital reality. Google pushes Amazon's listings, Amazon receives Google's traffic and purchases, Facebook and Google (and Twitter) censors information that is contrary to the official narrative, Amazon hosts 70% of the internet, which Google arranges for consumption, etc, etc. Such theatrics. Apple provides most of the mobile platforms that it all happens on. They all work together and are not competitors. A journalist a while back did a deep dive study to determine just much Amazon, Google and Facebook control the internet and if it was possible to avoid them. The end result was no one that uses the internet can escape them. It's not possible.

These corporations are CIA creations with completely fake backstories so absolutely nothing will happen to them.

[Valli6]

Interesting that only Zuckerberg was willing to admit that China steals technology from America. The others acted like they'd never seen any such thing.

Also notable that when Rep. Greg Steube asked them what the government might do to discourage this, none of them had any suggestions.

By Chris White @ The DailyCaller https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/29/c...-apple-censors

Zuckerberg Was The Only Tech CEO To Unequivocally Say China Is Stealing American Technology
CHRIS WHITE - TECH REPORTER
July 29, 2020 - 7:03 PM ET

...“I think it’s well documented that the Chinese government steals technology from American companies,” the 36-year-old Silicon Valley executive said after Rep. Greg Steube asked him if China is stealing from U.S. technology companies. The Florida Republican posed the same question to CEOs Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Sundar Pichai of Google...

...“I don’t know of specific cases where we have been stolen from by the government,” Cook said in response and when Steube asked him the same question. Bezos and Pichai provided similar answers, with the Apple CEO telling lawmakers that he has “no first-hand knowledge of any information stolen from Google.”

Apple admitted in 2017 to removing from its app store hundreds of virtual private network apps in China allowing users to avoid the country’s censors, CNBC reported in 2017. The company built a data center in 2018 in China to comply with Beijing’s cyber security laws, which give the country the ability to seize data on political dissidents, Reuters reported in 2018.

Google sought to launch a plan in 2018 to create a censorship-compliant search engine in China, The Intercept reported in 2018. The search engine — codenamed Project Dragonfly — would blacklist sensitive queries preventing people from searching certain terms in China. The project ended in December 2018 after employees complained.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/29/c...-apple-censors