Online Platforms and Market Power: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

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Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law | Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google EventID=110883

[ApplicoInc]

*Our picks for best moments:* 👀🌟
David Cicilline opening question 0:48:30
Jayapal asking Bezos about 3rd party seller data 1:50:51
Jordan gets angry when Scanlon calls his questions "fringe conspiracy theory" 2:13:32
Cicilline asks Bezos about Amazon competing with third party sellers 2:31:03
Armstrong follow up to Jayapal's question about abusing third party seller data 3:42:53
Cincilline asks Zuck about limits to free speech/harmful speech 4:15:53
Stube asks CEOs if they think Chinese gov steals technology from US companies 4:33:14
Jordan asks if cancel culture mob is dangerous (also asks Bezos to clarify that he agrees with the term "digital thunderdome"😂) 4:55:50
Scanlon asks about rising Amazon seller fees 5:10:36
Cicilline closing remarks "These companies have monopoly power, some need to be broken up, all need to be properly regulated" 5:27:02

[everything]

Drinking game: Take a shot every time one of the CEOs says "I don't know" or "I don't remember".

[DanielOrtegoUSA]

I had no idea that I would watch the entire hearing! It was very informative, and I'm hopeful that Congress will actually carry through with dismantling these companies. Hopefully, my post won't be taken down.

[narsing]

The answers which these CEO's give are similar to the one's which I write in an exam when I have no idea what it means and just fill up the page.

[reesewilson]

It's so hard watching non-technical people ask technical questions and not understand the answers (5:22:12)

[rahimjonqudratov]

- We use cookies primarily for security, for someone to stay logged in, but not for collecting data
- Once again, you don’t use cookies?
- Yes, we use


It is like:
- Do you use knife for murdering?
- No, I use it for chopping vegetables
- Then, you have a knife, right?
- Yes, I have

They are being misinterpreted

[michaeldowd]

Could you imagine the future if the same opinions and arguments employed by these folks in opposition to market share dominance were applied in consideration of the concentration of wealth, power and influence currently enjoyed by the federal government? 🤯

[TheSupermazter]

I wonder if Tim Cook also uses the same tone and voice at home

[Roosader]

Apple, I feel, should be allowed to have most of the control they do now. The biggest issue in my eyes is the disallowance of third party browser engines (such as Chromium) and Safari’s own reluctance to support many Web APIs or gimped partial support for what it does support. They mention that Web Apps are a meaningful alternative to the App Store, when in actuality, you lose access to features like true persistent storage, push notifications, etc. If Apple supported these, it could be left to developers to create marketplaces that serve Web Apps that can perform almost any task were they to function as native apps. Apple purposely does not implement these features under the guise of “security” when in actuality it simply pushes developers to publish their apps to the App Store so Apple gets the 30 percent cut and has an absolute stranglehold on the types of applications that are allowed. Looking up iOS PWA support clearly shows the many shortcomings that developing Web Apps for iOS has when compared to other platforms.

[richcabesa]

This reminds me of trying to explain to a non technical family member, how GPS works. "No it is not watching you with a camera..."

The referrals to services like Railways or phone services is so wrong. These are things that you had no choice or using. All of these services are opt in, and by no means a requirement to live. Users could choose to never use these services again starting tomorrow. What would the break up look like, for companies like Google or Facebook where breaking into separate companies would make the services mostly useless.

And finally, the intro about absolute power and bowing before a king are hilarious and so hypocritical considering the US govt is currently illegally suppressing peaceful protestors, and tried to slip several billion dollars into the HEALS bill to line their pockets by purchasing unneeded military and govt equipment or assets. How can anyone take these people who struggle to find the input button on a remote for their tv, seriously about decisions on tech and their idea that there is some anti trust going on.

[kanetombs]

A man or woman in their basement can work out proper audio levels for guests to talk about starwars for 4 hours at 1am but CONGRESS itself can't even get two speakers in the same audio level ballpark for volumes.

[MetalArcade]

I hate all these ceos but I don’t understand the point of asking a question when they have five seconds to answer before getting cut off

[KP-rhqz]

2:08:28 Jim Jordan - it’s just a yes or no question. This is a good question.

[CharlesPotashner]

Seems like Ms. McBath has no understanding of what cookies are

[zangarkhan]

Someone needs to make a compellation of all the repeated questions and "I will get back to your office" or "I don't know", and see how many have been actually answered.

[kevinparker]

While I appreciate the hard work that these tech companies have put into their products, they have for nearly a decade now been over the lines of monopoly and anti-trust. When my device is locked into Apple's eco system and they are the gate keeper of what get installed, what doesn't and what was once approved but now disapproved my consumer choice is limited. Samsung and Google do the same thing, to a lesser extent. Apple has shamelessly stolen developers ideas, integrated it into their operating system and then booted the developer's apps from the store because they offered similar functionality as iOS. Microsoft got into huge trouble in the EU just for bundling their browser... How come these same things are not happening to Apple or Google with their bundled apps? On iOS you couldn't even install a 3rd party app that isn't listed on Apple's app store. Today Microsoft has been a proponent of opening up, surprisingly so.

[jimbiemm]

Amazon blackmailed a lot of companies in Germany that were on "Marketplace". On the one hand with the threat of not allowing them anymore if they do not use the "paid storage" at Amazon. Or, Amazon bought the retailer's products and then sold them on the platform on their own at much higher prices. Evidence showed that the product was specially made for it.
If you analyze all 10, 000 cases in Germany alone, you come to the conclusion that this is a "criminal organization" that is only there to extort ideas and property from strangers in a manner that extortion.
It is no different with #Apple ". I will answer this later after asking.

[susancolon]

Including headaches from the job. My daughter worked for Amazon until I begged her to quit because it was killing her happy spirit.

[ronaldgoad]

The committee should have a portrait of Teddy Roosevelt hanging behind them!

[avioaveo]

++++ for Amazon: "Amazon on Tuesday told members of its affiliates program that it will cut commission rates beginning April 21. Rates are being cut for a number of affiliate product categories. For example, the affiliate cut from purchases of furniture and home improvement products has fallen from 8% to 3%". In general, the decrease of affiliate share in recent years has dropped from 10% to 1-3. Isn't it a monopoly?