Welcome back ourwitnesses and i now recognize the gentle lady from washington. Thank you mister chairman and thank you all for your very informative testimony. You all touched on this but a common refrain we hear from companies is during the course of this committees investigation but also just on my own i have many of them in my district is that they cant possibly be violating antitrust laws and the primary argument is that its because many other products either cheap or free and therefore consumers are inherently benefiting. You all have indifferent ways talk about this. To me the big question of course is is free really free . Consumers i think its increasingly clear are paying for the products that they use read theyre paying in data, theyre paying in privacy and often dont know theyre giving up and of course the Big Tech Companies use that data to build these massive empires of information about consumers then give them spectacular advantage over newcomer businesses, allow these c
A common refrain we hear from Tech Companies is, during the course of the investigation, but also on my own, since i have minute them in my district is that they cant be violating Anti Trust Laws and the primary argument is that many of their products are cheap or free, and therefore they are inherently benefiting. We have talked about this, to me the big question is its free really free . Consumers are paying for the product that they use, paying ended up, paying in privacy that they give up and often dont know they are giving up. The big Tech Companies and use that data to build these massive empires of information about consumers that give them spectacular advantage over newcomer businesses, allowing the companies to scrutinize every aspect of peoples lives, create and sell products that have the best chance of being successful. You mentioned the history of acquisitions. Facebook at made 67 on talents acquisitions, amazon has made 97, and google had made 214, mostly unchallenged acq
One on the role of data and prime fancy into competition. I recognize myself, i should state the obvious im, not bitter of the subcommittee, and chairs the subcommittee, the chair of the committee will be here in a few minutes. It has never been easier to share news and information that content and communicate with loved ones, all at a moments notice. Given the technological recognitions it, has added to the balance of power in our economy. Its important for us to understand how this affects americans, what is causing the asymmetries of power and whether these new and growing inequalities are compatible with our democratic values. The committees ongoing is a key part of this practice. Todays hearing, we will examine the role that data plays and maintaining any qualities of power, and how this affects competition. As previous hearings have shown, the growing share of Congress Communications is now controlled by a small number of companies. These platforms are innocent, largely intermedi
Test dr. Valletti, you mention the acquisitions and the history of acquisitions. As of 2018 facebook had made 67 unchallenged acquisitions. Amazon had made 97 unchallenged acquisitions. And google had made 214, mostly unchallenged acquisitions. And you proceeded over the ec, eu investigation of google, amazon, and facebook. Two questions. What kind of access do these questions have to consumers as a result of those acquisitions . Then you talked about the thresholds being one of the potential problems for why investigations arent opened. Do the thresholds of investigation need to change if we are to challenge some of these acquisitions . Thank you very much for the question, congresswoman. Do the thresholds have to change . Im very pragmatic. To the extent people have powers to look into it, fine by me. Im even in favor of changing very strategic platforms with such a big market power, i would wonder instead of asking the authorities to prove there is anticompetitive, then they could r
Of a u. S. Trade war, is it a risk to investors . First, to our top story, facebook shares took a hit earlier today after the wall street journal reported Mark Zuckerberg knew about the social networks problematic privacy practices. Facebook uncovered emails in the process of responding to a federal privacy investigation, raising concerns that they would be harmful to the company if they became public. The journal says that is part of the reason why the company salt sought a quick settlement. Here in me in san francisco, our bloomberg tech executive editor, so, tom, explained this to me here. The nuts and bolts here. What is the journal saying that facebook uncovered . Tom they are referring to an email exchange, which, by the way, they have not seen them. We certainly havent. We dont know where they got them. Apparently there was this exchange in 2012, around the time that the ftc was handing down this consent degree punishment about facebook and its privacy practices. At the time, th