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Officially postponed hearing on pivotal antitrust technology
Monday's conference hearings have officially been postponed with Facebook chief executives Google , Amazon and Apple as the late Rep. John Lewis will be in the U.S. Capitol on Monday next week.
The House Judiciary Committee had initially scheduled a blockbuster hearing for Monday at noon, setting the stage for a dramatic public broadcast of the various anti-trust concerns facing the companies. But the familiar source told The Verge Thursday that it is highly likely that the House Judiciary Committee will be rescheduling Monday's hearing to allow Members of Congress to pay their respects.
While the CEOs are expected to attend remotely due to coronavirus concerns it is still unclear when the hearing will take place in the end.
Lewis (D-GA), a leader in civil rights, died last week of fighting pancreatic cancer. There will be a private ceremony in US Capitol Rotunda on Monday, 1:30 pm, and a public viewing of the coronavirus pandemic will be held outside the venue. The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee 's tech hearing on Monday is scheduled to begin at noon and close to the Lewis ceremony.
The hearing of the Judicial Committee with Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai was to mark the end of public hearings as part of the committee's year-long investigation into anti-competitive behavior in the technology sector. Over the last few years, legislators and regulators have been engaged in competition tests related to the technology industry. Both Facebook and Google are under state and federal law enforcement scrutiny over antitrust concerns, and a case against Google could be brought this summer.
Over the last few days, the full committee's Republicans have pressured for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to testify during the hearing on Monday. But Dorsey does not give testimony.
The Committee plans to release its final report detailing the survey at the end of the summer or early autumn and could propose legislation that would change the way the current antitrust legislation responds to competition in the technology sector.
Where the report will focus on is uncertain, however it will likely touch on many of the industry 's ongoing regulatory struggles — including the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions by Facebook, Apple 's strict revenue share system for the iOS app store and Google's dominance of online ads.
