Elizabeth Warren calls to break up Facebook, Google and Amazon

Image: Democratic Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Holds Camp
Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks at a rally at the Stone Cliff Winery on March 1, 2019 in Dubuque, Iowa. Copyright Scott Olson Getty Images
Copyright Scott Olson Getty Images
By Jason Abbruzzese with NBC News Tech and Science News
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Warren has been a part of a growing group of Democrats who have called for greater regulation and antitrust enforcement of major tech companies.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, on Friday called for the government to break up Facebook, Google and Amazon, offering a plan to re-categorize the companies and reverse some major tech acquisitions.

Warren, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, has been a part of a growing faction within the party that has called for greater regulation and antitrust enforcement of major tech companies.

"Twenty-five years ago, Facebook, Google, and Amazon didn't exist. Now they are among the most valuable and well-known companies in the world," Warren wrote in a post on the blogging platform Medium. "It's a great story — but also one that highlights why the government must break up monopolies and promote competitive markets."

Warren's call also comes as Democrats have begun to plan for increased oversight of tech companies after winning control of the House in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. On Wednesday, House and Senate Democrats introduced legislation to establish strong net neutrality protections that would look to prevent major service providers from using their power to manipulate how users experience the internet.

Few Democrats, however, have actively called to break up tech companies, as Warren did on Friday.

Warren said in her post that the consumer experience of most internet users is dominated by Facebook, Google and Amazon, which can then "use the Internet to squash small businesses and innovation, and substitute their own financial interests for the broader interests of the American people."

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