Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple execs head to Capitol Hill for antitrust hearing

Executives from some of the nation’s biggest tech companies will be in the hot seat Tuesday afternoon as they face wide-ranging questions from the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel about the threats they may pose to competition.

The hearing on “innovation and entrepreneurship” will include testimony from executives of four sprawling tech companies, including:

  •  Google’s Director of Economic Policy Adam Cohen  
  • Amazon’s Associate General Counsel, Competition Nate Sutton  
  • Facebook’s Head of Global Policy Development Matt Perault  
  • Apple’s Vice President, Corporate Law Kyle Andeer

Slated to begin at 2 p.m. ET, the hearing comes in the midst of simmering tensions between Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill -- and could potentially set the table for increased oversight of the tech industry.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AAPL APPLE INC. 170.85 -1.43 -0.83%
GOOGL ALPHABET INC. 150.07 -0.70 -0.46%
FB n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 179.71 +0.84 +0.47%

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are said to be looking into big tech practices as they explore a possible antitrust violation case. Last week, the FTC reportedly voted to approve a $5 billion settlement with Facebook, resolving a lengthy probe into the social media behemoth’s data privacy practices.

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Meanwhile, some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, most notably Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have called for the break-up of some of the country’s biggest tech firms, which Warren has referred to as “monopolies.”