nilay patel

nilay patel @reckless

Nadler asks Pichai about using the data from multiple sites collected in Chrome to show ads. Pichai says users can turn off ad personalization. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

"What do you have to say to the journalists who lost their jobs as a result of Facebook's deception?" Zuck "rejects that characterization." — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Nadler up now, asking about Facebook video and inflated video views causing many publishers to fire journalists in a "pivot to video." Zuckerberg "regrets that mistake." — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Gaetz is trying to catch Pichai in a trap that makes no sense -- individual search results are algorithmic, with signals that include manually curated lists of sites with disinformation. Pichai "strongly disagrees" with his characterization of political bias. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Pichai has gotten the most insane questions of anyone and his general demeanor of extreme patience is serving him very well. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Matt Gaetz is talking about bog-standard platform moderation practices and staffing like it's the world's greatest conspiracy — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Oh good, Matt Gaetz is back to weave an elaborate conspiracy theory about how working on AI in China helps the Chinese military and then abruptly says "I want to talk about search" and brings up "leaked memos from the Daily Caller." — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

"Has Alexa been trained to favor Amazon products when user shops by voice?" Bezos says "it wouldn't surprise me if Alexa promoted our own products." — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Raskin asks why leading market position is valuable if there are no network effects, re the acquisition of Ring. Bezos patiently explains that market position is valuable for many reasons. Heh. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Raskin asks if the Echo is priced below cost. Bezos says when it's on promotions, yes. Raskin asks if smart home is a winner take all market. Bezos says no, their vision is that smart speakers should answer to different wake words. This is true! — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

"Are you essentially converting power in one domain into power in another domain where it doesn't belong?" re the Fire / HBO Max negotiation. Bezos says he just doesn't know the details. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Bezos says he's not in that negotiation. "I believe they will come to an agreement, it's two large companies." Raskin says if large companies are struggling, they stand in for thousands of small companies. This is a fun line of questioning, but like... AT&T will be fine. — PolitiTweet.org

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Rep Raskin asks Bezos about Amazon's role as a gatekeeper. "A lot of people want to know when HBO Max will be available on your Fire device." @loudmouthjulia !! — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Rep Buck asks everyone to agree that slave labor is bad. Everyone agrees. Hard-hitting. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Rep Buck tells he's concerned Amazon's dominant position to beat competition. Brings up private label products again, specifically allowing counterfeit PopSockets until PopSockets agreed to a $2m marketing deal with Amazon. — PolitiTweet.org

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"I don't view those conversations as a threat in any way," says Zuck. "Did you warn Evan Spiegel that Facebook was cloning the features of his company while trying to buy Snapchat?" asks Jayapal. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Has Facebook ever threatened to clone a product while trying to acquire it? asks Jayapal. As Zuck starts to deny it, she reminds him he's under oath and reminds him he threatened Kevin Systrom during IG deal. Ice-cold. — PolitiTweet.org

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Nap time with Jim Sensenbrenner has concluded. Rep Jayapal is back up with email receipts of Zuck talking about copying apps so users don't leave. Zuck says "we certainly adapted features that others have led in, as have others" done to them. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Sesenbrenner asks Bezos how consumers would be helped by breaking up Amazon. Bezos, grinning, says they would not. Asks Pichai if consumers would be helped by spinning off YouTube. Pichai says they would not. Very illuminating. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

"Back about 35 years ago, AT&T was broken up," Sensenbrenner says, calling it a "flop" and "counterproductive." "Guess what? We're back to where we were in 1984." — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Sensenbrenner again. "I have reached the conclusion that we do not need to change our antitrust laws... the question here is the enforcement of those laws." He notes the Obama FTC signed off on the Instagram acquisition. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Cicilline asks about the policy of Amazon not using data to compete with third parties. Bezos replies "we have a policy against using individual seller data" and that they are looking at it very carefully as a result of the WSJ article. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

@binarybits They should all be on the committee's site — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Cicilline asking about Amazon copying products sold by third parties and undercutting them. Bezos says they were convinced running the platform for sellers was better for consumers, kind of dodges the question. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Back to Cicilline, who asks Bezos if small businesses have any other options for selling online. Bezos says Amazon is not the only option, "but I believe we are the best one." — PolitiTweet.org

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Bezos trying to say third-party sellers are important and valued by Amazon, which is probably news to a lot of third-party sellers. — PolitiTweet.org

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McBath says "this is not about one business, this is about a pattern of behavior." Not buying Bezos offering to step in and fix it. — PolitiTweet.org

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Rep McBath asking Bezos about small biz owners who say they are bullied by the company. Playing audio from a textbook company owner who was restricted from selling on Amazon. Bezos says he would like to talk to her. "It does not seem like the right way to treat her." — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Rep Neguse now asking Facebook about other competitors and its total marketshare. Zuck says he faces a lot of competitors in everything they do. — PolitiTweet.org

nilay patel @reckless

Hey, I recognize that website https://t.co/eqdHoL8HX5 — PolitiTweet.org