Prepared remarks
All four of the big tech executives have already shared a copy of their opening prepared remarks for today’s hearing. In Apple’s case, Tim Cook argues that Apple is not a dominant player in any of the markets in which it operates and that the App Store serves as a trusted place for users and developers alike.
The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee has been investigating the digital marketplace since last June.
You can read the full prepared remarks from Cook, Bezos, Pichai, and Zuckerberg below:
How to watch the Tim Cook testimony
The US House will stream today’s hearing live on YouTube. All four of the big tech CEOs will appear in the hearing remotely via video conferencing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can watch from the US House Judiciary Committee’s YouTube channel. Learn more in our full guide on how to watch right here.
Tim Cook’s testimony: Live blog
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And that’s a wrap. Cicilline finishing up with closing comments: “Today we had the opportunity to hear from the decision-makers at four of the most powerful companies in the world. This hearing has made one fact clear to me: these companies as they exist today have monopoly power. Some need to be broken up, all need to be properly regulated and held accountable. This subcommittee will next publish a report on the findings of our investigation. We will propose solutions for the problems before us.
McBath asks the four witnesses if they commit to improving the diversity of its senior leadership. All four say yes.
Neguse mentions Tile item trackers and the idea that Apple takes ideas from developers on its platforms.
“We run the App Store to help developers, not hurt them. We would never steal somebody’s IP.”
“We run the App Store to help developers, not hurt them. We would never steal somebody’s IP.”
There’s no other word to describe this other than lie. Just look at how many of their apps in the AppStore have private entitlements and use private API. The Clips app doesn’t even ask you for camera permission, it gets it by default*
- as of the last time I checked https://t.co/JzpgTmQtc5
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 29, 2020
Rep. Neguse asks Cook about the App Store guidelines and whether developers are told not to clone apps.
Cook: “I’m not totally familiar but I believe that’s the case. We were getting a number of apps that were essentially the same thing.”
Cook: “I’m not totally familiar but I believe that’s the case. We were getting a number of apps that were essentially the same thing.”
The exact App Review guideline that Tim Cook didn’t recall https://t.co/442Pjkp9en pic.twitter.com/iqGx4jSxIH
— kif (@kifleswing) July 29, 2020
Cook: “It’s something I’m not all the way up to speed on. If you’re talking about where somebody with a different point of view talks and they’re canceled, I don’t think that’s good. I think it’s good for people to hear different points of view and decide for themselves.”
Cook: “We would never do that. A pandemic is a tragedy and it’s hurting Americans and all around the world. I believe the cases you’re talking about are cases where something has moved to a digital service which technically does need to go through our commission model. In both cases that I’m aware of, we are working with the developers.
“They’re not. We’re very p[roud of what we’ve done in education and we’re serving that market in a significant way. We will work with people who happen to move from a physical to a virtual world because of the pandemic.”
Cook: “I don’t know of specific cases where we have been stolen from by the government. I know of no case of ours where it’s occurred. I can only speak to first-hand knowledge.”
Zuckerberg says it’s a well-documented fact that China steals from American companies.
Cook: “There are many reasons why the app might not go through the App Store gate. It might not work properly or there might be other issues.”
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 29, 2020
McBath goes on to question Apple’s removal of competing screen time applications from the App Store.
Cook: “We were concerned about the privacy and security of kids. The technology that was being used at the time was used MDM and it had the ability to take over a kid’s screen. There’s vibrant competition of parental controls out there.”
Cook: “We were concerned about the privacy and security of kids. The technology that was being used at the time was used MDM and it had the ability to take over a kid’s screen. There’s vibrant competition of parental controls out there.”
Rep. McBath: Does Apple have the ability to restrict apps from the App Store?
Cook: “If you look at the history of this, we’ve increased the number of apps from 500 to 1.7 million. We want every app we can on the platform.”
Cook: “If you look at the history of this, we’ve increased the number of apps from 500 to 1.7 million. We want every app we can on the platform.”
Cook: “The use of a technology called MDM placed kids’ data at risk and so we were worried about the safety of kids.”
Demings asks about a specific app used by the Saudi Arabian government that was not removed, despite using MDM technology. “I’m not familiar with that app. I’d like to look into this and get back to your office. We apply the rules to all developers evenly,” Cook says.
“There are over 30 parental controls on the App Store today, so there is plenty of competition. This is not an area where Apple gets any revenue at all,” Cook says.
Bezos’ answers are sometimes surprisingly honest:
Bezos: “I don’t know… We do promote our own products"
— Geoffrey A. Fowler (@geoffreyfowler) July 29, 2020
Rep. Raskin asks Bezos about HBO Max coming to Fire TV. Bezos says it’s simply two large companies trying to negotiate the details.
Rep. Buck asks the four witnesses if they agree that if their respective companies would agree not to use slave labor. “I would love to engage on the legislation with you, Congressman, but let me be clear forced labor is abhorrent,” Cook says. He adds that Apple would terminate a supplier relationship if slave labor usage was discovered.
Jayapal asks Zuckerberg if Facebook has threatened to clone a competitor while also trying to acquire it. Zuckerberg says he is not aware of that happening, but Jayapal reminds him that he is under oath. The congresswoman questions Zuckerberg about copying Instagram and Snapchat, but Zuckerberg dodges and says he doesn’t remember those conversations.
“Facebook is a case study, in my mind, of monopoly power, because your company harvests and monetizes our data, and then your company uses that data to spy on competitors and to copy, acquire and kill rivals,” Jayapal concludes.
“Facebook is a case study, in my mind, of monopoly power, because your company harvests and monetizes our data, and then your company uses that data to spy on competitors and to copy, acquire and kill rivals,” Jayapal concludes.
Damnnnnn…. On Facebook cloning Instagram pre-sale:
“Instagram’s founder seemed to think that was a threat – he confided in an investor at the time that he feared you would go into quote destroy mode if he didn’t sell Instagram to you.”@RepJayapal
— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) July 29, 2020
- Demings asks whether the more user data collected means more money for Google. “Most of the data we collect is to help users,” Pichai says.
Jeff Bezos hasn’t been asked a single question by Congress yet, so the world’s richest man is having a snack… pic.twitter.com/zMZ4iEuHyY
— Claire Reilly (@reillystyley) July 29, 2020
Cook emphasizes they’ve never raised commissions, and there is a competition for developers. “They can write their apps for Android, Windows, Xbox, Playstation. It’s like a street fight for market share.”
“We do not retaliate or bully people. It’s strongly against our company culture.”
Cook: “It’s available to anyone meeting the conditions.”
Cook: “We treat every developer the same. We have open rules. It’s a rigorous process. Because we care about privacy and quality, we do look at every app before it goes on. We apply these rules equally to everyone.”
“The App Store is a feature of the iPhone, much like the camera is,” Cook says.
Rep. Buck also points to the Genius vs Google lyrics disagreement.
“With hindsight, it probably looks obvious that Instagram would have reached the scale that it has today but at the time it was far from obvious. We invested heavily in building up the infrastructure.”
Zuckerberg says it was a very successful acquisition, Instagram now reaches more people than ever thought possible.
Rep. Nadler references newly-leaked emails that show Zuckerberg was worried “Instagram can hurt” Facebook. “In the space of mobile photos and camera apps, which was growing, they were a competitor,” Zuckerberg says today.
Pichai: “We try to understand trends from data, which we can see, which can be used to improve our products for our users, but we are really focused on improving our products.”
This is related to allegations from Yelp that Google stole reviews and other content.
Pichai: “With respect, I disagree with that characterization.”
“In the more than a decade since the App Store debuted, we have never raised the commission or added a single fee. In fact, we have reduced them for subscriptions and exempted additional categories of apps. The App Store evolves with the times, and every change we have made has been in the direction of providing a better experience for our users and a compelling business opportunity for developers.”
Read Tim Cook’s full opening statement to today’s antitrust committee
“Just as American leadership in these areas is not inevitable, we know Google’s continued success is not guaranteed. Google operates in highly competitive and dynamic global markets, in which prices are free or falling, and products are constantly improving.”
You can read Pichai’s full prepared remarks here.
Opening comments from Rep. Jim Jordan, who apparently forgot this hearing is about antitrust.
“I’ll just cut to the chase: big tech is out to get conservatives.”
“If it doesn’t end, there have to be consequences.”
Here’s a look at the WebEx setup for this remote hearing:
“I’ll just cut to the chase: big tech is out to get conservatives.”
“If it doesn’t end, there have to be consequences.”
Now onto Jerry Nadler’s opening comments.
“These dominant platforms now comprise the essential infrastructure for the 21st century.
Opening comments from ranking member Jim Sensenbrenner.
“Being big is not necessarily bad. In America, you should be rewarded for your success. My colleagues and I have a great interest in what your companies do with that accumulated power.”
We also know that the tech marketplace is driven by data — there are
And here we go… kicking off with an opening statement from Chairman David Cicilline emphasizing the bipartisan nature of this investigation.
“Our two objectives have been to document competition problems in the digital economy, and to evaluate whether the current antitrust framework is able to properly address them.”
“As gatekeepers of the digital economy, these platforms enjoy the power to pick winners and losers, shake down small businesses and enrich themselves while choking off competitors”
President Trump weighs in:
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1288506554585505793?s=21
“These dominant platforms now comprise the essential infrastructure for the 21st century.
“Being big is not necessarily bad. In America, you should be rewarded for your success. My colleagues and I have a great interest in what your companies do with that accumulated power.”
We also know that the tech marketplace is driven by data — there are
“Our two objectives have been to document competition problems in the digital economy, and to evaluate whether the current antitrust framework is able to properly address them.”
“As gatekeepers of the digital economy, these platforms enjoy the power to pick winners and losers, shake down small businesses and enrich themselves while choking off competitors”
Update: The antitrust hearing has been delayed for approximately 30 minutes, so we now expect a start sometime between 9:30 a.m. PT and 10 a.m. PT/12:30 pm and 1 p.m. ET.
For a more Google-focused look at today’s hearing, be sure to check out our sister site 9to5Google.
The hearing is set to begin at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. The process will start with opening remarks from all four of the CEOs: Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.
