Washington (AFP)

Four bosses whose companies largely dominate the global Internet in the face of American elected officials raised against this omnipotence which escapes them: the hearing of GAFA in Congress opened Wednesday in Washington at 5 p.m. GMT.

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee must "examine the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google."

"They have too much power," said David Cicilline, chairman of the subcommittee on competition. And "they will certainly emerge (from the pandemic) even stronger and more powerful than before."

"If Congress does not force the Big Techs to be fair, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with decrees," threatened Donald Trump even before the meeting start.

Sundar Pichai (Alphabet, parent company of Google), Tim Cook (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon), are auditioned by videoconference, the coronavirus pandemic requires.

Their companies, which, combined, are worth around $ 4.780 billion on the stock market, have contributed significantly to American growth and enable the country to dominate the global internet, from communications to e-commerce.

But their hold on data, the engine of the digital economy, worries in terms of respect for competition and also for privacy, especially since the scandals of foreign interference in the 2016 elections.

On the left as on the right, and less than 100 days before the elections, elected officials could therefore be particularly aggressive against social networks, which they cannot do without to campaign.

"I'm afraid that the audience will turn into a discussion on content regulation, with the left wanting to force platforms to fight against content that promotes hatred and disinformation, while the right wants to force them to authorize, "comments Mark Lemley, professor of law at Stanford University.

- "Proudly American" -

Google and Facebook capture the bulk of global digital advertising revenue from the personal data of their billions of users.

Apple and Amazon, they are accused of being judge and party on their platforms, the app store for one and the e-commerce site for the other.

On Tuesday, the four bosses took the lead by publishing their opening speeches.

All intend to play on the patriotic fiber of elected officials.

Their companies, "proudly American", according to Mark Zuckerberg, owe their success to the values ​​and laws of the country - democracy, freedom, innovation, etc.

"There are no guarantees that our values ​​will win. China, for example, is building its own version of the Internet on very different ideas, and exports this vision to other countries," insists the young billionaire.

The social network TikTok, whose fate is in Washington's hands because of suspicions of too close ties to China, intervened in the debate on Wednesday.

Kevin Mayer, his boss, called for "fair competition" on the blog of the beloved youth app, and denounced the "malicious attacks by our competitors - namely Facebook - disguised as patriotism (...)".

- Facing the mirror -

The GAFA also put forward their investments, job creation in the United States, and ensure to promote competition and face fierce competition.

The judicial commission has been investigating possible abuses of a dominant position for months, but the hearing is unlikely to have major consequences.

Unlike the European authorities, the United States is rather cautious on the issue.

In order to authorize action against companies, US law requires that their actions clearly harm consumers, for example by driving up prices.

The discussions could, however, help elected officials determine whether new laws should be enacted to better regulate digital platforms.

An idea that Mark Zuckerberg supports, at least for the moderation of content.

The emblematic bosses all recognize the relevance of a review of their activities by the authorities.

But Jeff Bezos intends, however, to warn parliamentarians about his philosophy in relation to the critics.

"When we think our detractors are right (...) But when you look in the mirror, weigh the critics, and still think you made the right decisions, no force in the world should be able to make you switch".

© 2020 AFP