META Meta Platforms Inc

By Ryan Tracy 

WASHINGTON -- The chief executives of U.S. technology giants are set to tell Congress they face stiff competition that motivates them to keep improving their widely used products, according to testimony prepared for a House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

Amazon.com Inc.'s Jeff Bezos, Facebook Inc.'s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent Alphabet Inc., also emphasize their companies' American roots in statements released ahead of the hearing, which aims to examine how the companies acquired their market dominance. The hearing is scheduled to start at noon Eastern time.

The documents preview how the executives will seek to counter accusations from lawmakers that the companies' dominant platforms stifle innovation and crowd out competition.

"I love garage entrepreneurs -- I was one. But, just like the world needs small companies, it also needs large ones," said Mr. Bezos, who is testifying before Congress for the first time.

His statement includes a lengthy biography, from being born to a high-school-age mom to founding a company that now employs about one million people -- many of them based in the U.S., he points out. Amazon's success, he said, has spurred other companies to create their own online retail platforms. "These marketplaces further intensify competition within retail," he said.

Mr. Zuckerberg, testifying for the fourth time before Congress, warned that Facebook faces a looming battle with Chinese rivals in which U.S. lawmakers could inadvertently hinder his firm.

"We believe in values -- democracy, competition, inclusion and free expression -- that the American economy was built on," Mr. Zuckerberg said. "China is building its own version of the internet focused on very different ideas, and they are exporting their vision to other countries.

"As Congress and other stakeholders consider how antitrust laws support competition in the U.S., I believe it's important to maintain the core values of openness and fairness that have made America's digital economy a force for empowerment and opportunity here and around the world," his statement said.

Mr. Pichai said Google's free products have improved people's lives, adding that the company faces competition even on its ubiquitous search engine.

"For example, people have more ways to search for information than ever before -- and increasingly this is happening outside the context of only a search engine," he said, pointing to searches that start with Amazon's Alexa device or by searching for products on Amazon.com.

That previewed a tactic the CEOs could use in the hearing -- pointing to competition from one another. Lawmakers will seek to make their own case using internal documents from the firms, gathered over a yearlong investigation.

Mr. Cook's testimony describes Apple as "a uniquely American company whose success is only possible in this country."

He takes aim at expected criticism that Apple charges excessive fees or favors its own products on the App Store. "After beginning with 500 apps, today the App Store hosts more than 1.7 million -- only 60 of which are Apple software. Clearly, if Apple is a gatekeeper, what we have done is open the gate wider," Mr. Cook's statement says.

While the hearing will influence Congress as it considers rewriting antitrust laws, new legislation isn't likely soon. The hearing's near-term impact could be on public opinion of the firms at a moment when the agencies that enforce the existing laws investigate the companies.

Each of the four is under scrutiny by one or more of those agencies, which include the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.

John McKinnon contributed to this article.

Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2020 09:15 ET (13:15 GMT)

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