Long-time Massachusetts Senator and political veteran Elizabeth Warren on Friday asserted her planned presidential campaign bid will largely rest on the promise of curbing big tech in the United States, dealing with many issues the Silicon Valley and associated industries caused in the past, and ensuring its influence is kept in check moving forward.
In a rather lengthy written address describing the basic gist of her plans, Senator Warren openly stated: “it’s time to break up Amazon, Google, and Facebook.”
The 69-year-old vowed to pursue dismantling the largest tech companies in the country if she wins the presidency, with the move being a mostly unprecedented affair that could push the traditionally left-wing Silicon Valley more to the right, or at least eliminate the will to vote among many Californians if they feel no one is representing their interests on a national level.
Fear of unstoppable conglomerates isn’t particularly partisan
Senator Warren’s Friday address saw her call for Internet juggernauts such as Google and Facebook to be regulated like utilities, being burdened by a much broader range of regulations and heavier oversight than what they currently face in any segment, despite the fact they’re present and active in essentially every industry.
The idea, while somewhat controversial, has been floated around top Washington decision-makers in the past, according to previous reports. While some GOP-leaning pundits are now likely to start attacking the concept as radically left-wing, it is President Donal Trump’s former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon who was last said to have subscribed to such a way of thinking, some 18 months back.
The big tech naturally opposes the idea of having to worry about the same regulations that are being imposed on wireless carriers and broadband service providers; the two are likely to become one and the same with the advent o 5G, while both Google and Amazon have recently been experimenting with millimeter-frequency spectrum. Google itself is already a network operator in a sense, with its Google Fi project still going strong despite hiccups. Both manage vast ecosystems of products and services where they aren’t just taking a cut of every transaction but are also selling their own competing foods.
Stories of Amazon forcing small suppliers out of business aren’t the rarest of sights on the World Wide Web, yet few industries can afford to refuse to deal with the Seattle, Washington-based firm, even if doing so means risking having it take away one’s business by first buying up all in-stock goods, then selling them en masse while aggressively driving down their prices. Google’s antitrust issues need little introduction; the company alone is the holder of several world records for highest penalties imposed over any competition law violations, many of which aren’t older than two years.
A Democrat against big tech
Then there’ Facebook, what many describe as a growing monopoly in its own right whose original platform is now stagnating but that’s adamant on buying up anything that has even the slightest of chances of becoming the next big thing – the next MySpace, Facebook Twitter, or YouTube. Senator Warren wants to see all of those companies prevented from simultaneously owning massive e-commerce platforms and selling through them, with the draft of her plan drawing the line on a $25-billion valuation.
Should she win the 2020 candidacy during the DNC’s primaries, Senator Warren could be the first Democratic presidential candidate in what seems like forever that wouldn’t enjoy strong political (and hence – financial) support from the Silicon Valley.