The Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren wants to ‘dismantle’ the giants of tech
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| The Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren wants to ‘dismantle’ the giants of tech |
According to her, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others have “too much power over our economy, our society and our democracy.”
While criticism of the Web giants has intensified since 2015, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a presidential candidate in 2020, made a radical proposal on Friday. She insisted upon ‘dismantling’ GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) that are "too big and too dominant", as she claimed.
“Big tech companies have too much power over our economy, our society and our democracy,” she wrote in a post on Medium. It proposes to “dismantle these monopolies and promote competitive markets.” Last year, Google was fined 4.3 billion Euros from Brussels for abuse of dominant position with its services included in Android. Also, Facebook could be slapped on the fingers by the US authorities for its management calamitous personal data, especially in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
She proposed firs, designating these companies to be "public service platforms" when their global turnover exceeds $ 25 billion. Second, prohibiting the state of being, both, the owner of a platform and offering their own services. Moreover, canceling major acquisitions; namely, Waze for Google, Whole Foods for Amazon and Instagram and WhatsApp for Facebook.
Her proposals would have radical consequences. Google would be forced to get separated into two separate companies; its research and advertising platforms whose business model is yet integrally linked. On mobile, Apple and Google could no longer both administer their app store and offer their own home apps. Besides, Facebook, which felt the wind turning and started to integrate all its messengers together, should unravel everything.
The debate is raised before the presidential elections
According to Waren, the US giants of the "tech" have used their omnipotence to stifle competition, through massive acquisitions and exploitation of the personal data of users. "They expresses legitimate fears, but to dismantle these companies, a bazooka should be used where a gun would be sufficient," confirmed Robert Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. "If you start unraveling these companies, users will have to pay for free stuff today," he added, assuring that the proposals would not be ultimately favorable to consumers. In addition to this, such a law would certainly be challenged in court, notably, since past acquisitions have all received the green light from the competition authorities.
What is certain is that with this proposal, this Wall Street defender set the tone of the Democratic primary. She will force other contenders to position themselves, like Bernie Sanders. Republicans, as well, dream of overseeing the giants of the Web, that they accuse of censorship against conservative opinions. The battle promises to be total.