Published 13:30 IST, July 30th 2020
Antitrust hearing key moments: Bezos having snack; 'hostage video'; confused lawmaker
The four-hour-long Congressional hearing on Antitrust law on July 29 produced several key moments that gave social media a respite from technical jargons.
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The four-hour-long Congressional hearing on Antitrust law on July 29 produced several moments that gave social media a respite from technical jargons. The chief executives of the Big Techs - Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple Inc’s Tim Cook - gave virtual testimony House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel but the social media latched onto the highlights of the hearing.
Amazon CEO reached out for a snack
Bezos, the world’s richest man, didn’t get to answer a single question for over an hour during his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. At one point, Amazon CEO decided to reach for a snack but was captured on camera and the internet was wondering how much money the Amazon CEO made during the “nom”.
someone calculate how much money he made during this nom https://t.co/dTSR2jTYZL
— bryson (@Bryson_M) July 29, 2020
$2,489 per second, so just shy of $2k more than the average American’s life savings.
— jordan wildon (@JordanWildon) July 29, 2020
Lawmaker confused Zuckerberg with Twitter CEO
A Republican lawmaker confused Zuckerberg with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and grilled him on micro-blogging platform’s decision to temporarily restrict US President Donald Trump for violating coronavirus misinformation rules. While Facebook had also removed the video for spreading misinformation, it didn’t restrict Trump from posting other stuff.
"I think what you might be referring to happened on Twitter, so it's hard for me to speak to that," said Zuckerberg.
Rooms of CEOs rated
The virtual hearing gave the popular Twitter account “Room Rater” an opportunity to rate the video conferencing rooms of the Big Tech CEOs and Pichai emerged as the clear winner by scoring 9 out of 10. It said that the vase and plant in the background are perfect with great composition and texture. It took a dig at Zuckerberg by calling it a hostage video and rated it 2/10.
Hostage video. Putin has not released him but has allowed him to loosen tie. That’s nice. 2/10 @finkd pic.twitter.com/6zhltrPTxd
— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) July 29, 2020
Back off the soft focus. Add books. Remember books? Order a couple ring lights. Here’s one. You gave it 4.5 stars. You get 6/10. @JeffBezos pic.twitter.com/X2H8dB0aeX
— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) July 29, 2020
'Put your mask on'
However, the highlight of the day was lawmakers shouting at several points and "put your mask on!" aptly caught the attention of social media. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon suggested Rep. Jim Jordan was pushing "fringe conspiracy theories" when shouting broke out among members of the House subcommittee.
13:30 IST, July 30th 2020