"To restore the balance of power in our democracy, to promote competition, and to ensure that the next generation of technology innovation is as vibrant as the last, it's time to break up our biggest tech companies," Warren said in a post on Medium.
The Hill reports Warren is the first major 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to call for breaking up companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon, though the idea has gained traction among progressives in recent years amid growing concerns about data privacy and the potential to use social media to spread disinformation.
Warren is hoping to shine a light on the firms' market power and how it has been used to influence the economy and society as a whole.
The high stakes: Such an effort would be a massive undertaking for any administration, likely resulting in years of court battles. But Warren argued that the U.S. has a "long tradition of breaking up companies when they have become too big and dominant " like AT&T, JPMorgan and Standard Oil.
Tech reacts: "The Warren campaign's call to breakup big tech companies reflects a 'big is bad, small is beautiful' ideology run amok," the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a tech policy think tank, said in a statement.
"Breaking up large Internet companies just because they are large won't help consumers," the group added. "It will hurt them by reducing convenience, reducing quality of service and innovation, and in some cases leading to the introduction of priced services."
NetChoice, a trade association that represents Google and Facebook, blasted Warren's "hipster" views on antitrust and argued the internet economy is not lacking in competition.
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