‘Is there an alternative to Facebook in the private sector?’ asked Sen. Lindsey Graham
In Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before a joint session between the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees today, the Facebook Chief Executive was forced to address whether his company is now effectively a monopoly. Concerns were raised about Facebook's monopoly status have surfaced over the previous year, with growing noise to break up the company.
"Who is your biggest competitor? "Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Mark Zuckerberg. The CEO struggled to address the question naming Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft as "overlaping" with Facebook in different ways.
The senator proceeded to ask "If I buy a Ford, and it does not work well, and I do not like it, I can buy a Chevy. If I am upset with Facebook, what is the equivalent product I can choose from? When Zuckerberg attempted again to address the question by breaking down Faceook's different types of services, the senator reiterated his question.
"I am not talking about categories. I am talking about real competition, the kind of competition that is in your face. "Because car companies face a lot of competition. They make one defective car, it gets out in the world, people stop purchasing that vehicle, they buy another one. Is there an alternative to Facebook in the private sector?"
This time round, Zuckerberg tried to give a longer answer about how the "average American uses 8 different applications" to connect with their friends, attempting to group Facebook as just one of many applications. Senator Graham cut to the chase and asked if Zuckerberg thought Facebook was indeed a monopoly?
In response Zuckerberg stated: "It certainly does not feel like that to me."
A version of the transcript of the exchange is reflected below:
"Sen. Lindsey Graham: Who’s your biggest competitor?
Mark Zuckerberg: Uh, senator, we have a lot of competitors.
LG: Who’s your biggest?
MZ: The categories… do you want just one? I am not sure I can give one but can I give a bunch? There are three categories that I would focus on. One are the other tech platforms: Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, we overlap with them in different ways.
LG: Do they provide the same service you provide?
MZ: In different ways.
LG: Let me put it this way. If I buy a Ford, and it doesn’t work well, and I don’t like it, I can buy a Chevy. If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product I can go sign up for?
MZ: Well, the second category I was going to talk about…
LG: I’m not talking about categories. I’m talking about real competition you face. ‘Cause car companies face a lot of competition. They make a defective car, it gets out in the world, people stop buying that car, they buy another one. Is there an alternative to Facebook in the private sector?
MZ: The average American uses eight different apps to communicate with their friends and stay in touch with people ranging from text to email—
LG: Which is the same service you provide?
MZ: Well, we provide a number of different services.
LG: Is Twitter the same as what you do?
MZ: It overlaps with a portion of what we do.
LG: You don’t think you have a monopoly?
MZ: It certainly doesn’t feel like that to me.
[laughter]
LG: Instagram. So you bought Instagram. Why did you buy Instagram?
MZ: Because they were very talented app developers who are making good use of our platform and understood our values…
LG: Is a good business decision. My point is. One way to regulate a company is through competition, through government regulation. Here’s my question, what do we tell our constituents, given what’s happened here, why we should let you self-regulate? What would you tell people in South Carolina, given all that’s happened here, why it would be a good idea for us to let you regulate your own business practices?
MZ: …well, Senator, my position is not that there should be no regulation…. I think the internet is becoming —
LG: Do you embrace regulation?
MZ: I think the real question, as the internet becomes more important in people’s lives, is what is the right regulation —
LG: Do you as a company welcome regulation?
MZ: If it’s the right regulation, yes.
LG: Do you think the Europeans have it right?
MZ: I think that they get... things... right.
[laughter]"