Panel requests tech giants’ records

A bipartisan House panel conducting a broad antitrust investigation of the technology sector is demanding that companies turn over a trove of internal records about their business practices as it ramps up scrutiny of the industry.

Leaders of the House Judiciary Committee and its antitrust subcommittee who are investigating the market power and behavior of the companies sent letters directly to chief executives Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page of Google.

Friday’s requests called for all communications to and from executives at those companies, including eight at Amazon, 14 at Apple, 15 at Facebook and 14 at Google.

Rep. David Cicilline, DR.I., who is leading the antitrust subcommittee’s inquiry into large Internet companies, said the panel is asking for detailed information about acquisitions, business practices, executive communications, previous investigations and lawsuits.

The letters, which were addressed to the top executives of each company, mark the most aggressive demands by the House panel since June, when it began a bipartisan investigation into whether large tech platforms are harming competition.

“We made it clear when we launched this bipartisan investigation that we plan to get all the facts we need to diagnose the problems in the digital marketplace,” Cicilline said in a statement. “Today’s document requests are an important milestone in this investigation as we work to obtain the information that our members need to make

this determination.”

The letters also were signed by the top Republican on the subcommittee, Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, as well as the top Democrat and the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

Asked about the request, Google pointed to a Sept. 6 blog post by top lawyer Kent Walker, who said the company’s “services help people, create more choice, and support thousands of jobs and small businesses across the United States.”

The other companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move comes as scrutiny of the big tech companies expands across the federal government, the states and abroad. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are conducting competition investigations of the companies, and state attorneys general from both major political parties have opened antitrust investigations of Google and Facebook. The investigation of Google has drawn participation by 50 states and territories.

“We have to act if we see that they’re breaking the law,” Rohit Chopra, one of the FTC members, said Friday in an interview on CNBC. Chopra, a Democrat, wouldn’t confirm specifically names of companies that could be under investigation, but he said the agency is consulting closely with the Justice Department and the state attorneys general as their work proceeds.

The House lawmakers also requested executive communications about previous government investigations and lawsuits and said they would not recognize attorney-client privilege as a reason for the companies to refuse to provide requested records.

With Google, lawmakers have asked Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to turn over internal emails and other records related to its previous mergers, such as its purchase of YouTube and DoubleClick, along with documents it has turned over to other governments in connection with previous antitrust investigations. It asked for discussions by executives about whether non-Google companies with competing ad technology can participate in Google ad auctions or place ads on YouTube. The lawmakers also asked for discussions about any agreements between Android and smartphone manufacturers that give Google exclusive rights to collect data from devices.

Google has faced numerous such investigations in recent years, especially in the European Union, which has fined the company more than $9 billion for violating competition laws.

With Facebook, meanwhile, lawmakers asked the socialnetworking giant to turn over records in which Zuckerberg might have talked about corporate rivals, including the sinceshuttered app Vine and two services Facebook later acquired, Instagram and WhatsApp. Investigators also are seeking additional documents related to Facebook’s relationships with third-party app developers.

Lawmakers asked Amazon to provide extensive records related to the way it prices and displays its products alongside those sold by rival sellers, along with additional records related to its many acquisitions, including the security firm Ring, the grocery chain Whole Foods, audio book company Audible and pharmacy delivery company PillPack. They posed more than 150 questions to Amazon related to the data it collects about sellers on its platform and users of its Alexa and Echo products.

The panel asked for details about 12 of Apple’s products and services, including its App Store, Apple Watch, iPhone, Mac and Siri. It wants to see communications to and from Cook and 13 other executives about policies and decisions involving the company’s App Store, such as the algorithm that determines the search ranking of apps and whether to allow other app stores on the iPhone. They also requested records about Apple’s offer to replace ailing iPhone batteries.

The antitrust panel has already held a hearing on the effect of digital platforms such as Google and Facebook on the news industry, as well as a session on innovation and entrepreneurship in July that featured appearances by executives from Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.