Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was caught snacking and struggling with technology during a virtual meeting of the US House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel. The hearing, which was marred by a series of technical glitches, was also attended by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
During the hours-long meeting, the US lawmakers asked the CEOs several questions related to dominance, anti-competitive behavior and business practices of their companies.
Chinese Stealing Information From US companies
The video clip, which has been shared several times on social media platforms, shows Bezos reaching out for a snack during the virtual conference as other CEOs went on to answer questions asked by the panelists.
During the session Rep Greg Steube asked the CEOs whether they believed that the Chinese government steals technology from the US companies. Bezos started answering without realizing that he was on mute. "You are on mute Mr Bezos," the panelist reminded the CEO twice.
"I have heard many reports of that. I haven't seen it personally. But I have heard many reports of it," stated Bezos after unmuting himself.
Admitting that there were several knock-off and counterfeit products being sold on Amazon, Bezos said that though he has read reports of Chinese government stealing information he doesn't have personal experience.
While CEO's of Apple and Google denied having knowledge of any data being stolen from their respective companies, Zuckerberg said: "It is well documented that Chinese government steals technology from American companies."
"You Are on Mute Mr Bezos" Becomes Social Media's Favorite Joke
Apart from Bezos' 'mute' moment, social media users also pointed out the fact that he received no questions for almost an hour during the meeting while the other CEOs faced a volley of questions.
The users of the micro-blogging site were soon tweeting about the viral clip. "I think my favorite part of the #antitrust hearing was seeing Jeff Bezos sip his coffee/tea, munch on snacks, and accidentally mute himself," wrote a user, as other mentioned, "My favorite part so far was seeing Jeff Bezos talk for 30 full seconds on mute. He's just like the rest of us!"
"Out of the four CEOs, I did not find myself relating to Jeff Bezos the most, but here we are. "Mr. Bezos, you're on mute," tweeted a user.
"Seeing @jeffbezos be reminded he's on mute during a congressional anti-trust inquiry completely ruins any hope I have for effective video conferencing" expressed a user.
