Ali Hasan
The lawmakers in EU summoned the CEOs of Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple on 1st February. The European Parliament will provide input into proposals by the European Commission to force the companies to play fairly with the competitors and to do more to tackle fake news and harmful content or they can face hefty fines.
“The purpose of the planned hearing is to have an exchange with the chief executive officers of the four globally leading platform companies to learn about their current business models and future concepts as they face the challenges of altering market conditions,” said an invitation sent to the companies seen by Reuters.
“The event will contribute to preparing the members of the European Parliament for the upcoming discussions on potential new regulation for the digital sector. For all these reasons, we wish to clarify that this invitation is for the CEOs only.”
People familiar with the companies doubted they would take up the invitation. The Invitation also said that the lawmakers are willing to change the dates to another day in February or March.
EU Anti-trust Chief Margrethe Vestager who is pushing for new rules will discuss about the digital and competition issues with Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai who according to a commission spokeswomen will hold a video-conference call with EU on Jan. 25, according to a European Commission schedule.
