Yelp Among Those to Slam Big Tech at Tuesday Hearing; CEO Can't Come
Technology stakeholders will take on Google and other major tech companies at a Tuesday hearing, according to written testimony we got in advance. Google’s self-serving search results give consumers objectively lower quality information, especially in the local search market, Yelp Senior Vice President-Public Policy Luther Lowe plans to tell the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Tuesday (see 2003020068). Google defended itself.
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Lowe will testify in place of CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. A spokesperson emailed that Stoppelman can't attend because he's managing "operational changes that have arisen as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak." Other companies also are changing travel and other plans due to the virus (see 2003090062).
Remedying Google’s dominance over how users connect online results will create a better experience for small businesses and consumers, Lowe wrote. Antitrust enforcement against Microsoft in the late 1990s prevented that company from clipping Google’s wings, benefiting everyone, Lowe wrote.
"Our users tell us they want quick access to information, and we're constantly innovating Search to help people easily find what they’re looking for -- whether it’s information on a web page, directions on a map, products for sale or a translation," a Google spokesperson emailed.
Congress should create a new federal agency to oversee data abuse, competition policy and corporate obligations in a fair market, Public Knowledge Senior Adviser Gene Kimmelman plans to tell the subcommittee. Neither DOJ nor the FTC has “extensive ongoing oversight personnel who monitor companies or industry sectors on a day to day basis,” Kimmelman wrote in his prepared remarks. Even with aggressive antitrust enforcement, there's a “clear need for procompetitive regulations to counteract network effects, economies of scale, data advantages and economies of scope that are tipping many digital markets toward monopoly.”
The app-platform dynamic “is not perfect,” but it benefits consumers, ACT|The App Association President Morgan Reed plans to testify. Platforms have reduced costs for developers and enhanced competition and consumer choice,” he wrote. Congress can help maintain a level playing field through strong intellectual property protections, a “stable” standards-setting system and “access to talent,” Reed added. The app industry has “strong interest” in maintaining a competitive app economy that enables it to “compete with larger firms worldwide through innovative products and services,” he argued.
The digital economy “sees disruptive events with some frequency, and it appears a commonplace that entrants may destroy established giants,” wrote Clemson University economist Thomas Hazlett in prepared remarks. Restricting efficiencies from scale, which can benefit consumers, can be a “dangerously anti-consumer policy,” he wrote.