Science, Technology, and Social Media

House Antitrust Panel Goes After Tech Companies For Supposedly Threatening The News Industry

The House Judiciary Committee pressed start Tuesday on its bipartisan investigation into big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter with a hearing on how the companies impact the news industry and misinformation.

The committee’s antitrust panel headed by Democratic Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline heard from news media associations and journalism groups Tuesday, reported USA Today.

Witnesses included David Chavern of News Media Alliance, a group representing approximately 2,000 newspapers. Chavern’s testimony comes after his group published an ill-received study Monday claiming Google pulled in $4 billion in revenue in 2018 by scraping news publishers’ content without paying the publisher. Journalists contended the study was based on data from almost a decade ago.

Other witnesses included Kevin Riley, editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, David Pitofsky, general counsel of News Corp, and Sally Hubbard of the Open Markets Institute. Many in the news industry maintain that social media giants like Facebook make money off of their content, but it’s not trickling down to them.

Cicilline was adamant that the investigation will not focus on any tech company in particular but will determine if companies are stifling competition and harming consumers when he announced the probe earlier in June.

The Department of Justice is reportedly also preparing an antitrust probe along those lines. President Donald Trump’s DOJ is expected to look into Google’s search engine and business model.

Trump discussed antitrust actions against Silicon Valley giants during a November interview with Axios.

“I do have a lot of people talking about monopoly when they mention those three in particular,” Trump said, referring to Google, Facebook, and Amazon. He continued, “we are looking at [antitrust] very seriously … Look, that doesn’t mean we’re doing it, but we’re certainly looking and I think most people surmise that, I would imagine.”

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org

Evie Fordham

Share
Published by
Evie Fordham

Recent Posts

Can The Democrats Be This Ignorant On ICE Safety

The Democrats have been floundering since last year when the Biden/Harris election fiasco sent them…

4 hours ago

Burning Bridges?

Elon has been on an all-out assault against Trump. Like a petulant child, he’s reacting…

4 hours ago

Trump Lifts Regs On Drones, Supersonic Flight, Opens Door For Flying Cars

President Donald Trump signed several executive orders on Friday, lifting regulations on aviation technology and…

5 hours ago

Stacey Abrams’ Nonprofit Shelled Out $20 Million To Close Friend’s Law Firm: Docs

Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’ nonprofit paid more than $20 million to her close…

5 hours ago

Kash Patel Says FBI Has Recovered Anthony Fauci’s COVID-Era Communications

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” Friday…

5 hours ago

California Democrats Take Another Shot At Subverting Trump’s Immigration Agenda

California Democrats are pushing through legislation that would make it incredibly more difficult for federal…

5 hours ago