 |
| Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren |
Senator Elizabeth Warren vowed on Friday to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook if elected US president to promote competition in the technology sector.
Seeking to stand out in a crowded field vying to be the Democratic candidate for president in 2020, Warren said at a campaign event in Queens that it was time to challenge the increasing dominance of Americaโs biggest technology companies.
โWe have these giant tech companies that think they rule the earth,โ she told a crowd of about 300 people in Long Island City. โI donโt want a government thatโs here to work for the giant tech companies. I want a government thatโs here to work for the people.โ
Amazon abruptly scrapped plans in February to build a major outpost in the neighbourhood that could have created 25,000 jobs, blaming opposition from local leaders.
In an event held not far from the proposed Amazon site, Warren said that big tech companies come into towns, cities and states and โbully everyone into doing what they wantโ and โroll right overโ small businesses and startups that are a threat.
โGiants are not allowed to buy out the competition. The competition needs the opportunity to thrive and grow,โ she said.
Some of those in attendance said they didnโt know enough about Warrenโs proposal to back it fully but they trusted her policy expertise.
โWhat I like is that sheโs proposing big ideas. I think thatโs important,โ said lawyer Kate Aufses, 32, who said she was undecided about which Democratic candidate she would support.
Earlier in the day, Warren said in a post on Medium that she would nominate regulators to unwind acquisitions such as Facebookโs deals for WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazonโs deals for Whole Foods and Zappos, and Googleโs purchases of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick.
Shares of Facebook Inc closed up 0.3 per cent on Friday, while Alphabet Incโs Google fell 0.08 per cent and Amazon.com Inc lost 0.3 per cent.
Warren also proposed legislation that would require tech companies like Google and Amazon that offer an online marketplace or exchange to refrain from competing on their own platform. This would, for example, forbid Amazon from selling on its Amazon Marketplace platform.
Amazon and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Facebook declined comment.
It is rare for the government to seek to undo a consummated deal. The most famous case in recent memory is the governmentโs effort to break up Microsoft. The Justice Department won a preliminary victory in 2000 but was reversed on appeal. The case settled with Microsoft intact.
โAN ARCHAIC IDEAโ
US Congress held a series of hearings last year looking at the dominance of major tech companies and their role in displacing or swallowing up existing businesses, among other things.
Amazonโs business model has displaced brick-and-mortar stores and the company has been criticised for poorly paying its warehouse workers.
Facebook has angered lawmakers for losing track of usersโ data and for not doing more to stop foreign meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
Google has clashed with smaller companies, like Yelp, over search placements and has raised concerns it would comply with Chinaโs internet censorship and surveillance policies if it re-enters the Asian nationโs search engine market.
NetChoice, an e-commerce trade group whose members include Facebook and Google, said Warrenโs plan would lead to higher prices.
โSenator Warren is wrong in her assertion that tech markets lack competition. Never before have consumers and workers had more access to goods, services and opportunities online,โ said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice.
In Washington, the president of the US Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, said breaking up the big tech companies would โtake us back to the Stone Ageโ.
โThis is not a vision for the future, but an archaic idea that should be dumped in your computer trash can,โ he said.
Public Knowledge, a tech policy group, called Warrenโs plan a step toward protecting the next generation of businesses, but stopped short of full-throated support for breaking up the tech giants.
Tim Wu, a professor of law, science and technology at Columbia Law School who coined the term โnet neutralityโ and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms, said in a tweet that it was โhearteningโ to see the idea of breaking up the tech giants gaining some traction.
Tech companies are some of the biggest political donors. Google spent $21 million to lobby in 2018 while Amazon spent $14.2 million and Facebook spent $12.62 million, according to their filings to U.S. Congress.
Angering a deep-pocketed industry could hurt Democrats, but that is not likely to be a big concern for Warren, who made her political mark and plenty of enemies by going after big banks after the 2007-09 financial crisis. In the Senate, Warren continues to be an outspoken critic of Wall Street and is a leader of her partyโs progressive wing.
Other Democratic candidates have also weighed in on the issue.
Senator Amy Klobuchar used her campaign launch speech to vow action on digital issues like privacy, saying โbig tech companiesโ misuse personal data.
Senator Bernie Sanders in 2018 even named a bill after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Stop BEZOS Act, which would tax big companies if their employees receive public benefits.
