Tech companies duke it out at Senate hearing

It was a big day for Big Tech at the Capitol, with the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee holding a hearing featuring Google and Apple executives to look at their app store market power. And a group of seven House Republicans pledged to reject donations from some of the top tech companies. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in rolling out legislation to invest more than $100 billion in emerging technologies.

ALL EYES ON APP STORES: The Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee turned into a Silicon Valley battleground Wednesday, with representatives from several app-based companies accusing Apple and Google executives at the hearing of stifling competition in their app stores and retaliating against those who speak out.

The app companies lambasted the commission fees, of up to 30 percent, that the Silicon Valley giants impose on some apps, a practice that could influence senators weighing legislative proposals aimed at curbing alleged anti-competitive behavior.

Apple’s chief compliance officer, Kyle Andeer, and Google’s senior director of public policy and government relations, Wilson White, defended the app store policies as being competitive and helping to ensure data privacy and security.

But the executives representing app-based businesses dismissed those arguments.