Thread by @inputmag

"As gatekeepers of the digital economy, these platforms enjoy the power to pick winners and losers and shakedown small business, and enrich themselves while choking off competitors." — RI Rep. David Cicilline #BigTechHearing

“In some basic ways the problem is not unlike what we faced 130 years ago.” — NY’s Jerrold Nadler on the size of today’s tech companies #BigTechHearing

“Big Tech’s out to get conservatives.” — Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan #BigTechHearing

Someone just screamed “Put your mask on” at Jim Jordan. #BigTechHearing

“Google succeeds when others succeed” except, you know, Bing… #BigTechHearing

BREAKING: Zuckerberg haircut update. #BigTechHearing

Zuckerberg is fear mongering about China *again* right now. Monopolies are not patriotic, Mark. #BigTechHearing

inputmag.com/culture/zucker…

“Why does Google steal content from honest businesses?” — RI Rep. David Cicilline #BigTechHearing

“It’s only a couple billion dollars.” #BigTechHearing

“As google became the gateway to the internet it began to abuse its power, it used its surveillance over web traffic to identify competitive threats and crush them.” — RI Rep. David Cicilline #BigTechHearing

“We’ve distinguished ourselves as one of the companies that defends free expression the most.” — Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the company that lets politicians lie #BigTechHearing

“Facebook saw Instagram as a threat ... and so rather than compete with it, Facebook bought it.” … “This should never have happened in the first place, it should never have been permitted to happen, and it cannot happen again.” — Jerry Nadler making a 🔥 point #BigTechHearing

Apropos of nothing, you should check out @altstoreio. #BigTechHearing

Gaetz asks CEOs for a pledge to “American values” then goes after the only person of color on the stand. Subtle! #BigTechHearing

Here's Gaetz's "American values" exchange with the only person of color on the stand, Sundar Pichai. We'll let it speak for itself. #BigTechHearing

WA Rep. Jayapal: “Does amazon ever access and use third-party seller data when making business decisions?”

Bezos: “We have a policy against using seller specific data to aid our private business, but I can't guarantee you that that policy has never been violated” #BigTechHearing

Jordan: Is Google going to tailor its features to help Joe Biden in the 2020 election?

Pichai: I can assure you that we complied with laws in 2016, any work we do around political work is non-partisan.

#BigTechHearing

“I’d like to return the focus to antitrust rather than fringe conspiracy theories.” #BigTechHearing

“How would customers, especially single moms and new families, how would they benefit by the fact prices increased after you eliminated your main competitor?” — PA Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon #BigTechHearing

“Facebook is now 95% of all social media in the U.S.” – Sheryl Sandberg. Does this look like a monopoly to you? #BigTechHearing

“We’re going to spend 5-10% of our market cap every few years to shore up our position.” – An unnamed Facebook executive 🤷‍♂️ #BigTechHearing

“We can likely just buy any competitive startup, but it will be a while before we can buy Google.” – An email from Zuckerberg to a senior engineer after Instagram acquisition #BigTechHearing

We’ve interviewed a number of your competitors and they use words like “Bullying,” “fear,” and “panic” to describe their experience with Amazon. — IL Rep. Lucy Kay McBath #BigTechHearing

INSANE exchange after Penn. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon suggested moving away from "fringe conspiracy theories." Nice to see the Real Housewives of DC are back. #BigTechHearing

"Amazon has nearly SEVEN TIMES the marketshare of its nearest competitor." — IL Rep. Lucy Kay McBath #BigTechHearing

“Amazon strings you along for a while because it feels so good getting that weekly check. We called it ‘Amazon heroin.’” – An apparel seller on Amazon #BigTechHearing

"Isn’t it an inherent conflict of interest to sell products on your platform that directly compete with sellers on a platform where you set the rules of the game?" – RI Rep. David Cicilline

“Did you warn Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat, that Facebook was in the process of cloning the features of his service while attempting to buy Snapchat?” … “Facebook uses the data it acquires to copy, acquire, and kill rivals.” - WA Rep. Jayapal #BigTechHearing

“Does Facebook copy its competitors?” #BigTechHearing

"We’re buying market position, not technology." – Jeff Bezos on acquiring Ring #BigTechHearing

"We do, of course, promote our own products, which is a common practice in business." – Jeff Bezos on if they leverage their market dominance to push out competitors. Again, this is a hearing where he's trying to prove Amazon is NOT a monopoly. #BigTechHearing

Facebook bought Instagram so it wouldn't lose its total control of the social media industry. bit.ly/336fJ8V

It's becoming clear that Gaetz does not understand what he's talking about. #BigTechHearing

"Over 200 counties in America no longer have a local newspaper." – NY Rep. Jerry Nadler, before discussing media's collective pivot to video at Facebook's behest. Thanks, Mark! #BigTechHearing

“I disagree with that characterization.” – All the CEOs #BigTechHearing

REMINDER: Spreading medical misinformation is against YouTube's terms of service. Because, you know, of the death. #BigTechHearing bit.ly/307wU8e

FL Rep. Greg Steube is a big fan of the "demon sperm" and "alien DNA" doctor. #BigTechHearing

REMINDER: Staffing people, yes, even fact-checkers, based on their political beliefs is illegal in the United States. #BigTechHearing

"Why isn’t Amazon responsible for keeping all counterfeit products off its platform?" – GA Rep. Hank Johnson #BigTechHearing

"If those are the facts, and someone somewhere inside Amazon said ‘buy X dollars in ads and we’ll help with your counterfeit problem’ is unacceptable" – Jeff Bezos. Yes, that would be. #BigTechHearing

Pop Sockets are now an official part of the U.S. Federal Government's Congressional record. So, there's that. #BigTechHearing

"It sounds like Facebook weaponizes its policies against competitors." — FL Rep. Val Demings

"We’ve had policies in the past that have prevented … our competitors from growing and competing with us." — Mark Zuckerberg #BigTechHearing

Evergreen.

https://twitter.com/inputmag/status/1288567711879004163

"Why'd you fire Palmer Luckey?" — FL Rep. Matt Gaetz

"I'm not sure it's appropriate to get into a specific personnel issue publicly." — Mark Zuckerberg #BigTechHearing

"That sounds like you’re targeting kids and then targeting advertisers to bring them on board." - PA Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon to Sundar Pichai of Google and YouTube #BigTechHearing

"30-40% is Amazon’s share of the e-commerce channel." — Jeff Bezos #BigTechHearing

"There may be categories or databases where we see it’s an important product or service and we make offerings in the arena." — Jeff Bezos on AWS and allegations it uses data to launch rival services #BigTechHearing

"We’re concerned about this 'innovation kill zone' that seems to be emerging." – CA Rep. Joe Neguse to Jeff Bezos #BigTechHearing

"The gate to the App Store is very wide." — Tim Cook #BigTechHearing

"We have a responsibility to limit the spread of content that’s going to be harmful to people." — Mark Zuckerberg

"Facebook is profiting off and amplifying disinformation the harms others because it’s profitable." — RI Rep. David Cicilline #BigTechHearing

"We rank what we show in our feed based on what’s going to be most valuable to people not what’s going to get the most clicks." — Zuckerberg

"Your platform is so big, that even with the right policies in place, you can’t contain deadly content." — Rep. Cicilline #BigTechHearing

Gaetz is at it yet again. #BigTechHearing

"Dr. Ben Carson is one of the most renowned minds in America." This was said by FL Rep. Matt Gaetz. #BigTechHearing

Here's a story about Dr. Ben Carson from this year. #BigTechHearing mic.com/p/the-trump-ad…

"Isn’t it true Facebook paid teenagers to give up their privacy to use Facebook Research App?" – GA Rep. Hank Johnson. That is true. #BigTechHearing inverse.com/article/56692-…

"Mr. Bezos, I believe you’re on mute." #BigTechHearing

"I think it’s well document that the Chinese government steals content from U.S. companies." — Mark Zuckerberg #BigTechHearing

"Mr. Zuckerberg, what is a digital land grab?" Well... #BigTechHearing

"The pandemic is a tragedy … we would never take advantage of that." — Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, which takes a 30% commission from nearly all apps #BigTechHearing

"[The App Store is] likely the highest job creator in the last decade." — Tim Cook #BigTechHearing

Transphobia is an extremist view. #BigTechHearing mic.com/p/the-trump-ad…

"If Facebook is out there trying to repress Conservative speech, they’re doing a horrible job of it." — MD Rep. Jamie Raskin #BigTechHearing

"I pay around 25% of my income to Uncle Sam, and then 30% to Apple. So I get half of it, and it’s very hard to make ends meet." #BigTechHearing

We're now talking about Bari Weiss. #BigTechHearing

"Are the rest of you concerned with the cancel culture mob and what it’s up to?" — OH Rep. Jim ‘Wrongthink’ Jordan #BigTechHearing

REMINDER: If you feel you've been "cancelled" because you refuse to stop spewing hate speech, you have other options. #BigTechHearing inputmag.com/guides/how-to-…

"It sounds a bit like a Stockmarket, except unlike a Stockmarket, there’s no regulation. If there were, it would prohibit insider trading." – WA Rep. Pramila Jayapal to Google on digital ads #BigTechHearing

"Without accountability it’s not meaningful to merely care about the newspapers." — WA Rep. Pamila Jayapal #BigTechHearing

"Are you so big you don’t care how you're impacted by a major boycott of 11,000 advertisers?" — WA Rep. Pramila Jayapal

"We’re not going to set our content policies based on advertisers." — Mark Zuckerberg #BigTechHearing

"Amazon appeared to designate its own products as essential even as it delayed products from third-party sellers … including hammocks, fish tanks, pool floaties." — PA Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon #BigTechHearing

"I wasn’t familiar with that name." (Facebook Research App) "I do recall we used an app for research." — Mark Zuckerberg... of Facebook... #BigTechHearing

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, everyone. #BigTechHearing

"We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." — Louis Brandeis #BigTechHearing