US congressional antitrust hearing with Big Tech CEOs postponed

An illustration shows the app logos of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A highly anticipated antitrust hearing including top executives of four Big Tech firms, originally set for Monday (July 27), has been postponed.

A notice filed by the House Judiciary Committee set no new date for the hearing titled "Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google."

The hearing would have conflicted with the memorial service for the late representative and civil rights leader John Lewis, to lie in state in the US Capitol.

The hearing was called amid rising concerns over Big Tech dominance, which has become even more pronounced during the coronavirus pandemic, and coincides with investigations at the federal and state level of the online giants.

Chief executives Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google and its parent firm Alphabet had agreed to participate in the session.

Details of the format of the hearing had not been announced, but it was expected that the executives would testify remotely.

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