U.S. lawmakers want to talk to the CEOs of the biggest tech firms. And the heads of Amazon, Facebook and Google said they‘re willing to testify in the House of Representatives’s probe into antitrust activities. Apple, on the other hand, reportedly told Congress that it’s willing to send a senior executive, but stopped short of promising that would be CEO Tim Cook.
This is part of an ongoing investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into whether the largest tech companies play fair with smaller competitors.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai of Google’s parent company Alphabet all agreed to come before the Committee, according to MarketWatch. However, Bezos and Zuckerberg said they’d only testify if the CEOs of the other tech giants also do so.
And Apple’s Cook might be giving them an out, according to The Washington Post. That raises the possibility he might be subpoenaed by the Committee. These lawmakers previously threatened to force Bezos to testify.
Scrutiny from both sides of the Pond
Apple isn’t facing antitrust investigations in the United States. The European Union launched antitrust investigations into the App Store and Apple Pay on Tuesday.
Spotify complains of the 30% cut Apple charges on App Store revenue. They claim it’s anticompetitive, considering Apple runs a rival music-streaming service.
And many developers share similar views. One of the creators of the newly launched email service Hey accused Apple of being “gangsters.” And iOS developer Wil Shipley recently spelled out his complaints on Twitter.
Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers. Every year nothing changes. pic.twitter.com/NoFcjwW1tC
— wil shipley (@wilshipley) June 11, 2020
