According to Bloomberg, a congressional panel will hold a hearing in 16 days from today (July 16) on competition in the technology sector. The hearing will be held by the House Antitrust Subcommittee, chaired by Representative David Cicilline (D-RI). Lawmakers worry that companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon have policies that are not good for consumers, the economy and the competition. The leaders of the four companies will testify next week.
All four are currently under investigation for various antitrust cases. Apple, for example, is under investigation by the European Union because of the 30% reduction needed by app developers who use the App Store platform to make subscriptions. In the United States, a class action claims that the so-called 30% tax imposed by Apple artificially raises the prices of paid apps in the iOS app storefront. And the Spotify music streamer is complaining about the Apple tax to the EU's Competition Commission; Unlike Android, Apple's iOS operating system does not allow users to download applications from third-party stores. This makes Apple's stock uncompetitive and confers on them the monopoly of selling iOS apps in accordance with the class action and Spotify. If the EU ruled in favor of Spotify, Apple could be fined up to 10% of its overall turnover in the last financial year, which would be 26.6 percent. billions of dollars.
Apple says that the Spotify figures are wrong. After the first year, Apple's subscription revenues dropped to 15%. The company also claims that only Spotify members moving from the free service tier to the pay channel from 2014 to 2016 had access to Apple's in-app (Apple) payment system. After 2016, Spotify no longer allowed its iOS subscribers to pay via the App Store. In other words, Apple says it levies 15% on monthly subscription payments from only 880,000 Spotify members. Spotify claims that Apple siphons each month of 30% of millions of paid subscribers. Someone. Roger McNamee, co-founder of private equity firm Elevation Partners, said that among the technology giant's four tech companies facing antitrust issues, Apple is the easiest to settle, as it could simply agree to reduce the Apple tax. McNamee calls the problems of "trivial" society.
The problems of Google and Facebook are more serious
Google and Facebook have more serious problems, according to McNamee. This is because their problems "go to the heart of their business models and that there is no easy solution," he said. He sees investigators looking for ways to force Google and Facebook to change the way they do business. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will sentence Facebook to a fine of up to $ 5 billion for violating a consent decree signed in 2011 with the agency. The agreement prevented Facebook from using subscribers' personal data without their explicit consent. But this deal was broken when 87 million users collected and sold their personal data to Cambridge Analytica without their permission. however, The Wall Street Journal Facebook co-founder and CEO Marc Zuckerberg was aware of these violations, which could lead to lawmakers demanding a fine well over $ 5 billion. The latter is actually a small potato for a company that brought in $ 55.8 billion last year.
Many lawmakers argue that Google Search holds the monopoly
Google's antitrust issues revolve around the demand of phone makers to install Google Search and the Chrome browser on handsets to receive a license for the Android version of Google Play services. This is the version of the open source operating system that includes major popular Google apps, Android updates, and the Google Play Store. The European Union has already fined Google $ 5 billion last year, and Android users in the country have a page that allows them to choose between search engines and search engines. competing browsers. McNamee says that the case against Google is so solid that he can not see the DOJ opening an investigation against the company.
Some lawmakers and politicians have talked about breaking Facebook and some other big tech companies. McNamee says that he would like to see any break treated in much the same way that the United States did in 1984. The company's telecommunications patents were placed in the public domain and their own networks were created to create new competitors. .
Executives who will appear at the hearing next week include:
- Adam Cohen-Google, Director of Economic Policy.
- Deputy General Counsel of Nate Sutton-Amazon.
- Matt Perault-Facebook, Head of Global Policy Development.
- Kyle Andeer-Apple, Compliance Officer.
