'We have a word for that - MONOPOLY!' Mark Zuckerberg is slammed as his emails boasting about 'neutralizing' competition and buying Instagram because it 'can hurt us' are revealed at tech CEO showdown - as conservatives tear into CEOs over 'bias'
The CEOs of the four biggest tech firms faced Congress as one Wednesday - and came under fire from both sides, accused of running monopolies, trampling small businesses and would-be competitors and censoring conservatives.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos, in his first appearance before Congress, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple sometimes struggled to answer pointed questions about their business practices.
For more than five hours the world's richest man, Bezos; fourth-richest, Zuckerberg; CEO of the world's most valued corporation, Cook; and its key search engine, Pichai; were repeatedly ripped as copycats, liars, bullies, drug dealers and traitors as they testified before the Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee.
In the most damaging moments, lawmakers unveiled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's internal emails boasting about buying competitors, saying Instagram was a threat as he plotted to purchase it, and talking about a 'land grab' on other competition.
Democratic Representative Joe Neguse bluntly told Zuckerberg he was running a monopoly in the tech marketplace as he read from the emails.
'You did tell one of Facebook's senior engineers in 2012 that you can, quote 'Likely just buy any competitive start up, but it will be a while until we can buy Google.' Do you recall writing that?' Neguse asked of the Facebook co-founder.
'Congressman, I don't specifically, but it sounds like a joke,' Zuckerberg said.
The newly revealed 2012 email chain, Neguse said, came directly after Facebook closed on its purchase of Instagram – one of its biggest competitors at the time.
In the emails, Zuckerberg detailed that his goal is to 'neutralize potential competitors,' especially those that could be 'disruptive' to Facebook.
'Here's why I ask these questions, Mr. Zuckerberg,' Neguse said in closing. 'It strikes me that over the course of the last several years, Facebook has used its market power to either purchase or replicate the competition.'
'And Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram are the most now downloaded apps of the last decade – and your company, sir, owns them all,' the Colorado representative concluded.
'And we have a word for that – that word is monopoly.'
Jerrold Nadler, the Democrat who heads the House Judiciary Committee, told Zuckerberg that the documents obtained from the company 'tell a very disturbing story' of Facebook's acquisition of the Instagram messaging service.
And Democra Pramila Jayapal asked Zuckerberg: ''Has Facebook ever threatened to clone the products of another company while also attempting to acquire that company?'
When he replied 'no,' she said: 'I'd like to remind you that you're under oath,' then detailed how when Facebook bought Instagram, it was also developing a similar product called Facebook Camera.
Jayapal said that Instagram founder Kevin Systrom believed that Zuckerberg would go into 'destroy mode' if he did not sell to Facebook. The billionaire denied the claim.
Facebook acquired several social media and messaging apps - the most high-profile being Instagram and WhatsApp since growing to one of the most popular platforms in the world and the major social media power. It has also attempted to buy others, like SnapChat.
Jayapal pushed Zuckerberg on whether Facebook had ever copied its competitors. 'We've certainly adapted features that others have led in,' he said.
Zuckerberg, who joined the hearing virtually, said his conversation with a senior Facebook engineer where he mentioned not being able to purchase Google yet was just a 'joke'
Democratic Representative Joe Neguse accused Facebook of being a 'monopoly' during Wednesday's Judiciary Committee on antitrust laws, pointing to an email where the social media giant's CEO Mark Zuckerberg details the company's goal is to 'neutralize potential competitors'
Newly revealed emails: Neguse shared the email chain where Zuckerberg said he wanted to weed out competitors that could be 'disruptive' to Facebook
google CEO Sundar Pichai also faced questions from conservatives over alleged bias in the search engine.Apple's Tim Cook was not attacked by lawmakers in the same manner that his fellow witnesses were
Swearing In: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook all joined a virtual hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to testify on antitrust and competition within the tech industry
'How many companies did Facebook end up copying?' she asked. 'Is it less than five? Less than 50?'
'Congresswoman, I don't know,' Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg was just one of the four CEOs who were called to testify before the Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee – the others were Google's Sundar Pichai, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Apple's Tim Cook.
All were present, virtually, to argue they face stiff competition from each other and other outside rivals.
Both sides accused firms of 'trafficking in hate,' Democrats slammed predatory behavior against competitors and Republicans went through a laundry-list of claims about bias and complaints about involvement in China.
Unfortunately, the Big Tech hearing was decidedly low-tech. Bezos escaped questioning for about an hour in what may have been a tech issue, and was caught on screen reaching for what appeared to be a snack.
Poor audio, flat-screen televisions switching off, and chief executives appearing together as thumbnails on a large screen frustrated viewers and led to mockery of the virtual set-up on Twitter.
Lawmakers descended into shouting at points, with a pandemic twist. One lawmaker shouted: 'Put your mask on!'
Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat and chair of the antitrust subcommittee, set the tone when he began by accusing Google of theft.
'Why does Google steal content from honest businesses?' he asked.
Cicilline alleged Google stole reviews from Yelp Inc and said Google threatened to delist Yelp from search results if it objected.
Pichai responded mildly that he would want to know the specifics of the accusation. 'We conduct ourselves to the highest standards,' he added, disagreeing with the characterization that Google steals content to win users.
But it was the Facebook executive came under some of the most harsh lines of questioning from Democrats over potential antitrust and competition issues and from Republicans over alleged anti-conservative bias.
