The GAFA giants will be questioned by the US Congress. - DAMIEN MEYER / AFP

On Wednesday, less than 100 days before the US presidential election, US parliamentarians will question four of the world's most iconic bosses, the leaders of tech giants, an industry that has so far largely escaped the control of authorities from the country.

The judicial commission is investigating possible abuses of dominant position by GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) and the relevance of existing antitrust laws and their application. His questions will be listened to as attentively as the answers of Sundar Pichai (Alphabet, parent company of Google), Tim Cook (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon).

Because in the context of general mistrust of Facebook, politicians of all stripes could be tempted to attack especially the social network, which they accuse of laxity in the moderation of content and of having too much influence on election campaigns. At the risk of moving away from the theme of competition.

"Designate culprits"

"These hearings are essentially used by members of Congress to identify culprits and make speeches for their constituency," notes Douglas Melamed, professor of law at Stanford University, "But this time it could be different."

For the past year, the US Department of Justice, the consumer protection agency and states have also launched investigations into GAFA. On the right, as on the left, the pressure is mounting against the political and economic omnipotence of digital platforms, made more essential than ever in daily life by the Covid-19 pandemic.

And richer too. Between March and June, billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg accumulated an additional $ 43.7 billion and $ 32 billion, respectively, according to a study by an American think tank campaigning for tax justice.

"Make some concessions to avoid tightened controls"

Beyond the tantalizing cast, some analysts are wondering whether to put such different companies in the same basket. "I expect a very theatrical audience more than concrete results," said Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies. “Companies will just realize that they have an interest in making some concessions to avoid tightened controls”.

Apple and Amazon are accused of being judges and parties on their platforms, the app store for one and the e-commerce site for the other. "It's as if I had a store in a shopping center and the owner of that center set up a store in front of mine, to sell the same products as me, at lower prices," says Mike Massey, the owner. of a sports equipment brand in New Orleans, during a press conference organized by Athena, a group of anti-Amazon associations.

Google and Facebook capture the bulk of global digital advertising revenue. User interactions with their "free" and largely dominant services allow them to build consumer profiles and sell ultra-targeted advertising space on a very large scale.

Collect and use personal data

But GAFA also have things in common. Born in the American “Wild West”, they have largely extended beyond their core business, from the cloud to entertainment, with new projects and acquisitions. Above all, they are masters in the art of collecting and using personal data, the engine of the digital economy. Difficult for other players to compete in these conditions.

But "if the data has been obtained legally, to build better products, it is considered a sign of effectiveness," notes Douglas Melamed. Parliamentarians must therefore determine whether the four behemoths dominate thanks to illegal practices aimed at crushing all competition.

Unlike the European authorities, the United States has been rather cautious on the issue. "Our laws are less conducive to the application of sanctions, and there is this faith in general in the ability of markets to regulate themselves," said Harry First, professor of law at New York University.

New laws?

“Regulators are cautious because they don't like losing in court,” adds the former director of the New York attorney's antitrust department. US law, as applied in recent years, requires that in order to authorize action against businesses, their actions clearly harm consumers, by driving up prices, for example.

Hence the second question asked, implicitly, to the judicial commission: should new laws be promulgated? Even in the event of a positive response, it will probably be necessary to wait for the next Congress, after the end-of-year elections.

New legislation "would probably have a better chance of solving the problem, but it will take time to interpret it," said Harry First. "This is not a quick fix."

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