It’s time to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook. That’s the verdict of potential US presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.
In a blog post on Medium, the democrat hoping to be chosen to take on Donald Trump in November 2020, explained why she believes it’s time to “break up monopolies and promote competitive markets.”
She says big tech companies, such as the aforementioned trio, currently have too much power over economy, society and democracy.
Warren wrote: “They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation.”
She says, should she be elected to succeed Trump, those companies will be broken up while other changes to the tech sector will prevent further monopolies emerging.
Warren says Facebook’s purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp have limited competition. She accuses Amazon of creating branded versions of goods they sell to crush competition and accuses Google of demoting Yelp ratings in favour its own reviews within search results.
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The remedy is to break them up, according to Warren, who says America has a “long tradition of breaking up companies when they have become too big and dominant — even if they are generally providing good service at a reasonable price.”
She cited how the government went after Microsoft in the 1990s with an antitrust case that eventually paved the way for Google to emerge from a more competitive market.
If you’re worried about your favourite services being broken up or are looking forward to the prospect, Warren isn’t likely to have the opportunity to put this proposal into action. She’s polling relatively poorly among the other democratic contenders, with around 7% of support ahead of primary season.
Do you think Google should be broken up to promote competition in the marketplace? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.