Some lawmakers zeroed-in on whether Google tracks location without consent – Representative Ted Poe of Texas accused Pichai of being evasive about location tracking when Pichai declined to give a yes or no answer when Poe asked if Google tracked his movements if he walked back and forth across a room.
Critics say that large tech companies report relatively little of their profit in local jurisdictions where they sell services and products.
The biggest names in tech have increasingly found themselves in lawmakers’ crosshairs at home and abroad. Concerns, however, are not strictly partisan.
Policymakers worldwide show no signs of letting up their increased scrutiny of Facebook. A British parliamentary committee investigating Russian election influencing campaigns has recommended sweeping regulations on tech companies, while accusing the social media giant of being disingenuous or outright obstructing lines of questioning.
Facebook’s violation of the 2011 consent decree about data privacy is the most prominent example of consumer information being monetized in ways that voters are becoming less comfortable with.
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the world’s strongest data privacy law, and its effects are reverberating around the globe.
Margrethe Vestager is making sure the world’s most powerful tech companies are complying with the EU’s rules on competition.
