Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple CEOs ready defenses in US Congressional hearing

The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google will present their testimonies virtually in a Congressional hearing on July 27 to deflect criticism of using their market power to hurt rivals.

The House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel is probing whether the companies actively try to eliminate smaller rivals and make poor choices for their customers.

The hearing will bring together Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple’s Tim Cook.

However, tech lobbying groups do not believe the hearing could address core antitrust issues or bring out new information.

Apple is likely to be questioned about how it manages its app store amid criticisms that it hurts newcomers.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is expected to discuss online purchase options and how the pandemic boosted e-commerce overall, even for rivals such as Walmart.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg is expected to argue that the company has strong competitors in advertisements, including Google and Amazon, and have to deal with competition from TikTok and Twitter in social media.

In recent weeks, Google has been asserting that it justifiably charges ad buyers and sellers due to the stiff competition it faces.