The US House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee is trying to get testimonies from Big Tech CEOs for its ongoing investigation into technology companies' alleged anti-competitive practices, Axios reported. Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google are reportedly being asked to supply internal documents and the companies' responses to other competition investigations. We have reached out to the office of Antitrust Subcommittee Chair David Cicilline for comment. This effort is a part of the wider antitrust investigation launched by the Judiciary Committee last year in response to growing competition concerns around companies like Amazon and Google, which have little competition standing in their way in their core services. "After four decades of weak antitrust enforcement and judicial hostility to antitrust cases, it is critical that Congress step in to determine whether existing laws are adequate to tackle abusive conduct by platform gatekeepers or whether we need new legislation to respond to this challenge," Cicilline had said when the investigation was launched. Congressional testimonies from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg have been politically charged sessions with a gigantic media spotlight. As the EU and US' antitrust glare on Big Tech heats up, testimonies from the companies' heads are something that could be key in shaping public perception of the need to regulate the industry. In India, Amazon obtained an interim stay on a Competition Commission of India investigation from proceeding; Flipkart has also filed for legal intervention to prevent a similar investigation into its practices from happening.
