Big tech antitrust investigation report expected by early fall

Senior committee aids say the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel could release the report concerning antitrust allegations against Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet and Apple and recommendations on how to reign in their power within the market by end of summer or early fall.

At this time, no subpoenas have been issued, but the CEOs from all four tech companies will testify voluntarily as part of the investigation. In a call with reporters on Thursday, the committee said it has received 1.3 million documents pertaining to the probe.

The panel will question each CEO as part of its investigation. Reuters has reported that come hearing time, CEOs from the tech companies are expected to defend themselves by saying, “their companies face intense competition and by pushing back against claims they are dominant.” The hearing was originally scheduled for July 27, it has since been delayed.

Aides say all four CEOs will attend a virtual panel instead of attending in person. Members of the subcommittee, however, will attend the hearing in person or online.

According to committee aides, the chair of the committee will determine how many rounds of questioning the CEOs face. Though companies don’t always answer questions completely and may leave our key information, a senior aide says it’s important to hear from company decision-makers.

“This is not like a normal oversight hearing, where we hear from the CEO’s and move on,” the senior aide added.

The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating antitrust allegations for about a year. Apple CEO, Tim Cook; Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; and Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, have each testified before Congress in the past. For Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, this will be the first time he’s appeared before Congress.