An Advertiser’s Guide To The Tech Giant Antitrust Probe

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai have all fronted up to US Congress overnight to defend their business practices and explain why their products and services make the world a better place.
Here is everything you need to know about what happened.
What is this all about?
Yesterday’s hearing was part of a long-running antitrust investigation into whether or not these tech giants have violated antitrust laws.
The investigation has been running for well over a year and will see whether or not existing antitrust laws – which are hundreds of years old – need to be modernised.
All four of the companies have been accused of different antitrust violations, meaning each CEO was forced to enduring a grilling with specific questions.
This is what they said.
Google’s Pichai was quizzed about the company’s search business, specifically whether there was a conflict of interest between sending people to their websites and selling ads.
He was also asked whether Google’s digital advertising business is a conflict of interest, given it runs a marketplace on the buy-side and acts on the sell-side simultaneously.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who was questioning Pichai, even went as far as to compare it to insider trading and said Google’s advertising business was “depriving [newspapers]of ad revenue”.
In response, Pichai said “we are deeply committed to journalism in this area” and is “focused on providing users with the information they are looking for”.
Pichai also said he didn’t know the exact size of Google’s market share over the digital advertising space.
While Pichai was forced to defend Google’s advertising practices, Zuckerberg had to answer to accusations of fake news, election interference, and largescale acquisitions.
The company’s acquisition of Instagram was a particular focus, after Congress accused Zuckerberg of making the acquisition to “neutralize a competitive threat”.
Zuckerberg’s defence was that Instagram may not have been the successful business – and potential competitor – it is today if Facebook hadn’t acquired it in 2012.
“Following its acquisition, Instagram was able to get help stabilizing infrastructure and controlling runaway spam. It also benefited from the ability to plug into Facebook’s self-serve ads sys
He also discussed the acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp.
“Before it was acquired, WhatsApp was a paid app with a reputation for secure communications; together we built on that by introducing end-to-end encryption and making it free to use. Since its acquisition, WhatsApp has also been able to develop products such as voice and video calling that were built on Facebook’s technology stack.
“These benefits came about as a result of our acquisition of those companies, and would not have happened had we not made those acquisitions.”
Zuckerberg was also asked about the recent #StopHateForProfit advertising boycott and whether the company is “so big that you don’t care how you’re impacted by a major boycott of 1,100 advertisers?”
In response Zuckerberg said: “No, congresswoman, of course we care. But we’re also not going to set apple
our content policies because of advertisers. I think that would be the wrong thing for us to do. We’ve cared about issues like fighting hate speech for a long time.”
Apple
Cook received the least amount of questions out of the four CEOs, but he was still grilled over how Apple uses its App Store.
The lawmakers raised the fact Apple can take up to a 30 per cent commission on in-app sales and subscriptions.
Cook said the policy is simply a way for Apple to keep the app environment alive.
“After beginning with 500 app, 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. We want to get every app we can on the Store, not keep them off.”
Amazon
The world’s richest man Jeff Bezos was asked about a recent report which suggested Amazon mined third-party data to develop products.
Bezos did not deny the claims.
“I can’t answer that question yes or no. What I can tell you is we have a policy against using seller-specific data to aid our private label business but I can’t guarantee that policy has never been violated,” he said.
He was also quizzed over Amazon’s market share in the US, where it accounts for roughly four per cent of overall retail sales (which includes restaurants etc) and 38 per cent of all e-commerce sales.
“I don’t accept that e-commerce is a different market, but it is a different channel,”
Bezos also described Amazon as one of the most popular consumer brands and emphasised how many jobs the company had created.
Latest News

Australian Road Safety Foundation Utilises Geo-Targeting Technology To Protect Kids In School
The Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) has teamed up with Spotify and some of Queensland’s leading musicians in a national first that will geotarget drivers within school zones. The Slow Down Songs campaign, which is being piloted in Queensland, will work to keep kids safe within school zones by dramatically slowing down songs and serving […]

Florida Financial Officer ‘Offers’ To Host Olympics With “Bonkers” Pitch
Florida’s chief financial officer on Monday (local time) told the International Olympic Committee that Florida would be happy to host the Olympics amid speculation that current host Japan may back out. Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to Thomas Bach, the head of the IOC, as Agence France-Presse reports, “to encourage you to consider relocating the […]

Kerry O’Brien Rejects Order Of Australia Award, As Media Greats Score Gongs
In top news for those who strive for averageness & mediocrity, the Order Of Australia list becoming increasingly uncool.

ABC Reporter Confronted For Speaking During Invasion Day Rally: “How Dare You”
Sadly, the 26th of January is turning into a day of division. On the upside, everyone in Cronulla behaved themselves.

Salesforce And Accenture Combine To Help Businesses Achieve Sustainability Goals
As predicted by B&T, sustainability to be the buzzword for 2021. We're less confident of our crêpe Suzette prediction.

When You Do And Don’t Need AI
Here's top tips for when you do and don't need AI. Alternatively, ask Alexa if she thinks it's worth reading.

30 Under 30: Industry Success Story Ricci Meldrum Reveals What Makes The Best Ads Great
Here, B&T's chatting with TBWA Melbourne MD Ricci Meldrum. Well, it was more a question-answer thing than a chat per se.

Selena Gomez Tries Vegemite By The Spoonful – Doesn’t End Well
Selena Gomez tastes Australian delicacies on her US TV show. Thankfully, it was decided to give Coon a wide berth.

Boost Mobile Continues Refurbished iPhone Deal With Coles
Coles joins the local pub carpark and Cash Converters as the place to land yourself a cheap, secondhand iPhone.

Taylor Swift The Most Popular Artist To Listen To While WFH
Tay Tay tops list for most popular WFH artists. Strangely, no mention of Megadeath or Cannibal Corpse for that matter.

SKYN Condoms Launches Progressive Campaign ‘Pleasure Is An Endless Exploration’ Via PRETTYBIRD UK
It's yet another condom commercial that arguably bears little resemblance whatsoever to most people's sex lives.

TikTok Shares New #SeaShanty Campaign Following Viral Success Of Scottish Postman
With the advertising industry's love of beards & alcohol it was only a matter of time before the sea shanty resurfaced.

Government’s $23.9 Million COVID-19 Ad Campaign Launches In Push To Get People Vaccinated
B&T staff nervous about COVID vaccine side effects. Less nervous about what was in those six pingas on the weekend.

The Agency Versus The In House Model For 2021
Other than Ray Martin's toupee, the "agency versus in-house" debate remains the media industry's great unknown.

Woolies Remains Australia’s Most Valuable Brand
Woolies tops list of Australia's most valuable brands. Not surprising given it's Australia's most expensive supermarket.

Clems Melbourne Promotes Georgia Jones To Head Of Business Management
Clems Melbourne promotes Georgia Jones to the slightly serious sounding role of head of business management.

McCann Snares Creatives Josh Aitken And B&T 30 Under 30 Winner Willy Maitland
Further proof a B&T 30 Under 30 award doesn't just land you a cheap looking perspex trophy comes this industry news.

Events Agency Director Nigel Ruffell Reveals How His Company Survived 2020
There are few industries that have been hit harder by the coronavirus pandemic than events, with agencies forced to pivot in surprising and innovative directions to survive. Nigel Ruffell is the director of The Company We Keep, a live brand experience agency that hosts events at 15,000 pax, and opened its doors in 2018. With […]

Australian Ethical Appoints R/GA As Innovation & Marketing Partner
R/GA forced to immediately remove the foie gras & shark fin soup from office fridge after snaring Australian Ethical.

Shaquille O’Neal To Front PointsBet’s Australian Brand Campaign
Reckon Australia had just about reached online sports betting saturation? Think again with this latest announcement.

Dentsu Strengthens Its Customer Experience Capabilities In Australia
Dentsu sidles up to the tech giants Salesforce, Adobe, Sitecore & Google. Well, maybe not Google for too much longer.

Ex-CUB Marketing Director Chris Maxwell Launches In-House Focused Consultancy Lution
Lution is a marketing, data & tech consultancy and is not to be mistaken with ablution or having to take a poo.

Sky News Australia Nabs Ross Greenwood As Business Weekend Anchor
Australian business and finance expert Ross Greenwood has signed exclusively with Sky News Australia as business editor and anchor of Business Weekend. With more than 40 years’ experience covering business news in Australia and around the world, Greenwood brings expertise to the role of Sky News business editor where he will lead the network’s business […]

Christian Wilkins Becomes Pantene’s First Australian Male Brand Ambassador
Christian Wilkins beats out Peter Garrett and Josh Frydenberg to become Pantene's first Australian brand ambassador.

Brands Deploy Mittens Memes After Bernie Sanders Goes Viral
Becoming slightly bored of Bernie Sanders memes clogging your social media? Let B&T add just a little more clog here.

Bumble Goes Public Despite Apple Privacy Change Concerns
The B&T editor's authoritative research confirms Bumble is ahead of Hinge when it comes to getting completely ignored.

Dan Andrews Cracks Top 20 In Hottest 100: “It’s Officially Time To Get On The Beers”
Victorian premier now referring to himself as DJ Dan Man & The Comrades after snaring Hottest 100 top 20.

The Rise And Rise Of The ‘As A Service’ Model
Here's a top piece on data as a service model. And as data's adland's "new gold", you could turn it into a new tooth.

Fitness First Unveils ‘Put Yourself First’ Campaign Via Thinkerbell
Reinvigorate your New Year goals with this new campaign. Unless those goals were to get more slovenly & take up smoking.

Carat Unveils Its Annual 2021 Trends Report
Looking for flying cars & self-styling hair helmets in Carat's 2021 Trends Report? Alas, no news, B&T's sad to report.