A highly anticipated hearing has invited representatives from Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple to testify on the impacts of big tech corporations on innovation and technological advancement. For the said hearing, Facebook plans to tell the members of the House that its acquisition of Instagram, and WhatsApp has helped the two platforms grow than they would have on their own.
The hearing came as the United States antitrust regulators are eyeing on decentralizing tech companies to promote innovation and to prevent monopolistic behavior that, in most cases, hinders development.
Facebook director of public policy Matt Perault has prepared his testimony ahead of the Tuesday hearing to include the company’s argument that the acquisition proved to be beneficial for both Facebook and the two acquired apps.
“Instagram and WhatsApp have had more opportunity to innovate as part of Facebook than they would have on their own — enhancing users’ experience and resulting in more choice for more people overall, not less,” Perault said in his prepared statement.
“Like most major American companies, Facebook’s acquisitions have played an important role in fueling innovation — both for our own products and services and for the startup community,” Perault added. “Acquisitions directly facilitate innovation by bringing together parties’ complementary strengths. An acquirer, for instance, may be able to contribute resources, know-how, technology, personnel, and more to an acquired company. In turn, an acquired company may possess specialized experience or other resources that it can contribute to the buyer, allowing the combined firm to grow and succeed.”
Lawmakers have since been adamant of Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. They argued that the merger had crushed a potential competitor before it fully matures with some, including Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has called for the acquisition and the mergers to be reversed.
But this legislative plan from lawmakers has been firmly resisted by Facebook and other tech companies. Earlier this year, Facebook announced that they are planning to integrate the messaging service of the three apps, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, into one service – an announcement that was not taken very well by some lawmakers.
