House hearing with high-profile tech executives rescheduled for Wednesday

A House hearing with high-profile tech executives is now scheduled for Wednesday after it was delayed for the late Rep. John Lewis’s (D-Ga.) memorial service.

The hearing in front of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, which was originally scheduled for Monday, will feature testimony from the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google in the panel’s investigation into competition in digital markets, with many lawmakers suggesting the four tech behemoths wield too much power. 

The noon hearing will be the first time Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai will all appear at a hearing together, and it will be Bezos’s first time in front of Congress. 

“Since last June, the Subcommittee has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital platforms and the adequacy of existing antitrust laws and enforcement. Given the central role these corporations play in the lives of the American people, it is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming. As we have said from the start, their testimony is essential for us to complete this investigation,” said Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the chairmen of the House Judiciary Committee and antitrust panel, respectively. 

The hearing is expected to focus largely on antitrust issues but will likely feature questions on hateful content and allegations of anti-conservative bias on tech platforms.

Lewis is scheduled to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday and Tuesday as lawmakers honor the longtime congressman and civil rights titan.