Senator Elizabeth Warren vowed to break up Amazon.com, Alphabet’s Google, and Facebook if elected U. S. president to promote competition in the tech sector.
(Reuters) — Senator Elizabeth Warren vowed on Friday to break up Amazon.com, Alphabet’s Google, and Facebook if elected U. S. president to promote competition in the tech sector.
Warren, who is seeking to stand out in a crowded field of presidential candidates, said in a blog post that on their way to the top, the big tech companies purchased a long list of potential competitors, like Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram.
“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,” Warren wrote.
Warren said that she would nominate regulators who would unwind acquisitions such as Facebook’s deals for WhatsAppand Instagram, Amazon’s deals for Whole Foodsand Zappos, and Google’s purchases of Waze, Nestand DoubleClick.
Investors shrugged off her comments, with shares in the three companies barely affected. Shares of Facebook and Alphabet were each down less than 0.5 percent on Friday. Amazon.com was down 0.9 percent.
It is rare for the government to seek to undo a consummated deal.
The most famous case in recent memory is the government’s 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.
