After years of getting overlooked in Washington, the technology industry has finally become too big for lawmakers to ignore. For the past year, a bipartisan group in Congress has zeroed in on the outsized influence of a few key industry giants. On Wednesday, the leaders of those companies -- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai (also chief executive of Alphabet subsidiary Google) -- will collectively appear before Congress for the first time to defend their market dominance.
"I love garage entrepreneurs -- I was one," Bezos says inwritten remarks, prepared for his first-ever appearance before Congress. "But, just like the world needs small companies, it also needs large ones. There are things small companies simply can't do. I don't care how good an entrepreneur you are, you're not going to build an all-fiber Boeing 787 in your garage."
Wednesday'shearing before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommitteecould be a pivotal moment for the tech industry. After the subcommittee's 13-monthprobe into tech antitrust issues, the testimony from the four CEOs will critically inform Washington's next move. If the CEOs don't win over lawmakers, Congress could be compelled to disrupt the industry with more robust and modern antitrust laws.
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"Given the central role these corporations play in the lives of the American people, it is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.)said in a statementearlier this month. "As we have said from the start, their testimony is essential for us to complete this investigation."
Members of Congress aren't the only ones listening. State attorneys general could feel more empowered to take action against tech giants on behalf of consumers. Federal agencies, already mulling whether to break up Big Tech, will also be paying close attention.
In a befitting twist, the four CEOs will testify via videoconference.
Like Bezos, the other CEOs plan to argue that their size isn't a problem. It has not stopped them from innovating, has not stifled the competition, nor has it kept them from serving consumers well. They also plan to suggest that their market dominance has helped the US maintain its technological and cultural dominance globally.
"As Congress and other stakeholders consider how antitrust laws support competition in the U.S., I believe it's important to maintain the core values of openness and fairness that have made America's digital economy a force for empowerment and opportunity here and around the world," Zuckerberg'sprepared remarkssay.
However, facing a slew of issues that have drawn the ire of Congress -- far beyond antitrust matters -- the CEOs, particularly Zuckerberg, also plan on showing some contrition.
"While we are making progress" on a range of problems, Zuckerberg says -- "for example, we have dramatically improved our ability to proactively find and remove harmful content and prevent election interference – I recognize that we have more to do."
The CEOs' prepared remarks also hit on some of the specific antitrust allegations they're facing. Amazon, for instance, has been accused of abusing its power as a digital marketplace for other businesses to give its own retail products a competitive advantage. Bezos counters by pointing to the success small businesses have had on the Amazon marketplace, highlighting stories of moms-turned-entrepreneurs.
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"We have helped many thousands of sellers grow their businesses on Amazon," Bezos says. "Our success may help explain the wide proliferation of marketplaces of all types and sizes around the world. This includes US companies like Walmart, eBay, Etsy, and Target, as well as retailers based overseas but selling globally, such as Alibaba and Rakuten. These marketplaces further intensify competition within retail."
Tim Cook, meanwhile, challenges the notion that the Apple App Store has used its market dominance to push around third-party app developers.
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When it was created, the App Store a "revolutionary alternative" for distributing software,Cook's prepared remarkssay. The commissions Apple takes are comparable to those of competitors and vastly lower than what developers paid to distribute software prior to the App Store's existence, he argues. After beginning with 500 apps, today the App Store hosts more than 1.7 million. "Clearly, if Apple is a gatekeeper, what we have done is open the gate wider," Cook says.
Google is facing scrutiny for its dominance in several markets, including the market for online search tools and digital advertising. Google'sPichai, in his prepared remarks, argues that "Google operates in highly competitive and dynamic global markets, in which prices are free or falling, and products are constantly improving."
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In search, for example, Google faces growing competition "outside the context of only a search engine. Often the answer is just a click or an app away: You can ask Alexa a question from your kitchen; read your news on Twitter; ask friends for information via WhatsApp; and get recommendations on Snapchat or Pinterest. When searching for products online, you may be visiting Amazon, eBay, Walmart, or any one of a number of e-commerce providers, where most online shopping queries happen."
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Zuckerberg, meanwhile, uses his prepared testimony to defend the many acquisitions that have made his company a social media powerhouse.
"Facebook has made Instagram and WhatsApp successful as part of our family of apps," he says. "Instagram and WhatsApp have been able to grow and operate their services using Facebook's bespoke, lower-cost infrastructure and tackle spam and harmful content with Facebook's integrity teams and technology."
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