How Jeff Bezos escaped early US questions during Congress hearing: poor audio quality, other issues

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Jeff Bezos was questioned intensely later in the hearing.

Amazon.com Inc chief executive Jeff Bezos escaped questioning for about an hour in a high-profile U.S. House of Representatives antitrust hearing on Wednesday, which could have been the result of a technology glitch .

Lawmakers, who held the hearing via video conference, focused on asking the CEOs of Google and Alphabet Inc.’s Facebook Inc. a barrage of questions about alleged abuses of market power.

Bezos was questioned intensely later in the hearing. However, any issue with its video feed wouldn’t have been the only technical challenge plaguing Antitrust Grills in Washington.

Poor audio quality, flat-screen TVs turn off, CEOs appearing together as thumbnails on a big screen – have led Twitter watchers and frustrated viewers to laugh at the virtual setup.

The committee did not immediately comment on the matter.

“The worst zoom quiz night ever,” tweeted Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, sharing a screenshot of the frames displayed in small boxes side by side.

The CEOs were then shown individually on large screens, leading some viewers to call up the @ratemyskyperoom Twitter account to judge their surroundings. Others criticized the sound quality of executives or the delayed audio.

It’s not clear what happened with Amazon’s virtual feed, according to a congressional aide with first-hand knowledge of the matter.

Amazon did not immediately comment on the issue.

The committee also took a 10-minute break to resolve technical issues for those in the courtroom.

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)

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