Apple, Google and Facebook CEOs expected to testify before antitrust probe

"All the companies have agreed to cooperate completely with the investigation and I expect that when we get to the point of asking them to appear they will cooperate as well."

What you need to know

• The Chair of the House antitrust subcommittee expects several CEOs to testify before the panel.
• David Cicilline said that all companies had cooperated completely with the investigation so far.
• He said he expected Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, and others to appear at hearings, depositions or by some other means.

The Chair of the House antitrust subcommittee David Cicilline has said he expects that the CEOs of Apple, Google, Facebook and others will cooperate in testifying before the panel, prior to the probe concluding.

As reported by Politico, the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law of the Committee on the Judiciary is due to hold its fifth hearing on competition in the tech sector this Friday, January 17, in Colorado.

The report notes:

"...but it won't be the last in the panel's wide-ranging investigation, subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said Tuesday. And he's still planning to hear more from the CEOs of Silicon Valley's most powerful companies before the panel wraps up its probe.

— "All the companies have agreed to cooperate completely with the investigation and I expect that when we get to the point of asking them to appear they will cooperate as well," Cicilline said of the CEOs. Cicilline told Cristiano he spoke to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook at the initial stages of the investigation — in addition to his meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in September — but still hopes to have them and other CEOs testify, whether at a hearing, a deposition or by some other means.

The probe was announced back in June of 2019. It is supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and could eventually lead to stiffer regulations and possibly even fines.

As part of the investigations, companies were sent a range of extensive questions to respond to, Apple, for example, answered 43 questions in total ranging from topics from Safari, repair policies and employee arbitration.

The report suggests that Cicilline would like the CEOs to testify prior to the panel wrapping up the probe, however, there is no clear indication as to when that may be.

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