Washington | The four American internet giants – Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon – “have too much power”, accused David Cicilline, the elected Democrat who chairs the exceptional hearing of the bosses of these companies suspected of abusing on Wednesday. their dominant position.
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Telling staggering figures demonstrating the power of these giants, Mr. Cicillin stressed the need to investigate their practices today more than ever, because “they should emerge from COVID-19 even stronger and more powerful than before”.
Speaking after the elected Democrat, Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican, stressed that “being tall is not in itself bad. It is even the opposite in America, you should be rewarded for your success ”before starting what could become the main object of this hearing for his party: are social networks biased and do they censor conservative voices ?
Donald Trump is convinced of it, even if his favorite megaphone is Twitter, where he has 84 million subscribers.
Jim Jordan, one of the White House tenant’s close allies, also attacked on this topic, listing examples of attempts, in his opinion, to silence Republicans on social media.
“The Big Techs opened up the hunt for the conservatives and that’s a fact,” Jim Jordan said.
It was Jeff Bezos, founder and boss of Amazon and the richest man in the world, who opened the ball with opening remarks – published as early as Tuesday evening – after the four bosses were sworn in. This is the first time he has testified before Congress.
Each boss in turn should emphasize the fierce competition their business faces and each will also emphasize how proud America can be of GAFAs, according to opening remarks released Tuesday night.
The four companies, which are worth around $ 4,780 billion on the stock market, have contributed significantly to US growth and have enabled the country to dominate the global internet, from communications to e-commerce.
But their hold on data, the engine of the digital economy, worries in terms of respect for competition and also for privacy, especially since the scandals of foreign interference in the 2016 elections.
On the left as on the right, and less than 100 days before the elections, elected officials could therefore be particularly aggressive against social networks, which they cannot do without to campaign.