(30 Jul 2020) During a hearing on the market power of four of America's biggest tech companies, a Republican congressman raised the issue forced labor in China and sought a pledge from Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai not to benefit in any way from the practice.
"Will you certify here today that your company does not use, and will never use, slave labor to manufacture your products?" said GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado.
"Or allow products to be sold on your platform that are manufactured using slave labor?" he asked.
All four executives said they would prohibit the use forced labor for their manufactured products, and bar the sale of such products on their respective platforms.
"Forced labor is abhorrent," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"And we would not tolerate it in Apple," he said.
"I agree completely," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Buck said he planned to introduce legislation to require U.S. companies to certify that their supply chain does not rely on any forced labor, and he said similar legislation has already been introduced in the Senate.
Throughout the day, Democrats largely focused on market competition, while several Republicans aired longstanding grievances that the tech companies are censoring conservative voices.
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