Senator Warren’s crusade against Big Tech
The influential Massachusetts senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has been a longtime critic of the consolidation of economic power by Amazon, Google and Facebook.
Now she’s making their break-up a key component of her presidential platform.
Warren has said that the massive market power that Google, Facebook and Amazon wield is a threat and will be treated accordingly, reports TechCrunch.
“Twenty-five years ago, Facebook, Google, and Amazon didn’t exist,” writes Warren. “Now they are among the most valuable and well-known companies in the world. It’s a great story — but also one that highlights why the government must break up monopolies and promote competitive markets.”
“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,” writes Warren.
It’s a dragnet that now encompasses Alphabet and Amazon.
The new law would also be required to meet a standard of fair and non-discriminatory use with their users, and platforms would be restricted from sharing user data with third parties.
As Warren notes, “Amazon Marketplace, Google’s ad exchange, and Google Search would be platform utilities under this law. Therefore, Amazon Marketplace and Basics, and Google’s ad exchange and businesses on the exchange would be split apart. Google Search would have to be spun off as well.”
The second (and more aggressive) part of Warren’s plan would be the appointment of regulators to roll back acquisitions that Warren deems anti-competitive. In Amazon’s case that means Whole Foods and Zappos would have to be spun back out. Alphabet would have to unwind Google’s acquisitions of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick (but not YouTube?), and Facebook would have to part with WhatsApp and Instagram.
Her call for regulation is a big moment for the tech industry; it should also serve as a wake-up call for these companies to do more than just pay lip service to the problems their dominance is causing in the marketplace.
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