Politico:

Anyone who recalls the widespread mockery of the questions posed to Mark Zuckerberg when he testified before a couple Senate committees in 2018 knows that this isn’t even a dirty secret in Washington: Nobody, from lawmakers to regulators to reporters, really and truly understands how companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple, work, day in and day out. So David Cicilline – a 58-year-old representative from Rhode Island – says he wants to lift the hood, and then describe in intricate detail to the rest of Washington exactly how the engines of Silicon Valley work.

Cicilline has drawn allies because his investigation is regarded as scrupulous and serious, something Congress does not always have a reputation for these days.

Even so, the investigation needn’t be antagonistic, Cicilline insists. He got on the phone with top tech company executives, including Apple’s Tim Cook, back when he started his investigation, he says, just so their firms’ first experience with the subcommittee wouldn’t be at the other end of a subpoena or document request.

At first blush, these hearings seemed like the typical grandstanding by know-nothing politicians. But Cicilline is well respected and knowledgeable. Hopefully, that means his findings will be taken seriously by all involved.