Elizabeth Warren: Break Up The Big Tech Monopolies!

Elizabeth Warren continues to be an incredible asset to the ever growing field of Democratic Candidates for President.  I don’t believe in the theory of the Overton Window, just in whether the people we’ve entrusted with power are willing and able to expand public discourse.  Elizabeth Warren continued to do just that with her campaign.

In terms of bold and innovative policy ideas addressing big problems, Warren is ahead of anyone else in the presidential primaries. I wish her polling were better but that might change if people listen to her ideas. https://t.co/BFL0Ob0qo7

This came after an incredible 24 hours, where Sen. Warren was the first Democratic Presidential candidate to respond directly to the unfettered white privilege of the light sentence for Paul Manafort.

Sen. Warren proposed her ideas at a rally in Long Island City:

At a rally in Long Island City, the neighborhood that was to be home to a major new Amazon campus, Ms. Warren laid out her proposal calling for regulators who would undo some tech mergers, as well as legislation that would prohibit platforms from both offering a marketplace for commerce and participating in that marketplace

And this wasn’t just sloganeering. I was particularly impressed with how Sen. Warren took the time to actually provide workable details. From the New York Times:

Ms. Warren’s regulatory plan would also force the rollback of some acquisitions by tech giants, the campaign said, including Facebook’s deals for WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon’s addition of Whole Foods, and Google’s purchase of Waze. Companies would be barred from transferring or sharing users’ data with third parties. Dual entities, such as Amazon Marketplace and AmazonBasics, would be split apart.

…

Ms. Warren’s plan creates two tiers of companies that would fall under the new regulations: those that have an annual global revenue of $25 billion or more, and those with annual revenue of $90 million to $25 billion. The upper tier would be required to “structurally separate” their products from their marketplace. Smaller companies would be subject to regulations but would not be forced to separate themselves from the online marketplace.

The corrosive nature of Big Tech on Democracy is well noted.  Russia had the motive to interfere in our Democracy, but Big Tech all too willingly gave them the means.

“We have these giants corporations — do I have to tell that to people in Long Island City? — that think they can roll over everyone,” Ms. Warren told the crowd, drawing applause. She compared Amazon to the dystopian novel “The Hunger Games,” in which those with power force their wishes on the less fortunate.

“I’m sick of freeloading billionaires,” she said.

This plan drew criticism from unlikely sources. Rep. Ro Khanna, who founded and leads the Justice Democrats in Congress and represents the Silicon Valley region (CA 17), objected.

Our technology industry is the envy of the world and we need policies that will foster innovation and consumer choice — but we also need stronger enforcement of antitrust law,” said Ro Khanna, the California House Democrat who represents Silicon Valley headquarters of companies such as Apple and eBay. He said that blanket statements against big tech companies weren’t helpful, but that each company needed to be “evaluated on a case-by-case basis and afforded due process

It also should be noted that the idea to actually break up Big Tech has been circling among some of the fabulous Democratic candidates we have running for President in 2020, notably including Sen. Klobuchar:

Senator @ewarren is getting a ton of much-deserved credit today for her bold proposals on Big Tech. Too few noticed, but another 2020 candidate waded into this arena: Senator @AmyKlobuchar called for the FTC to re-open the Google investigation three days ago. pic.twitter.com/UA6Zn8MRHq

And when asked if Sen. Warren would object to the Amazon Headquarters choosing Boston, she had a perfect response:

Part of Elizabeth Warren’s answer to whether she would have been OK with an Amazon HQ being set up in Boston: pic.twitter.com/fTh5hdQvvi