Elizabeth Warren Says ‘Boo-Hoo’ to Critics of Her Plan to Break Up Facebook, Amazon, Google

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) defended her plan to break up large technology company monopolies on Saturday, noting it would not end the world if these “monopolies” make less in profits.

Warren, one of the leading 2020 Democrat presidential candidates, released a plan on Friday to break up some of America’s largest tech companies, which includes Facebook, Google, and Amazon, as a means to separate herself from the increasingly large swathe of Democrat presidential candidates.

The Massachusetts senator called for the appointment of regulators who would “unwind tech mergers that illegally undermine competition.”  Warren will also call for legislation that would block platforms from both offering a marketplace for commerce and participating in that marketplace.

“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 statement on Friday.

At the South by Southwest festival (SXSW), which often features many large tech companies, Warren defended her plan to separate large Silicon Valley companies.

“The monopolists will make fewer monopoly profits. Boo-hoo,” Warren said.

“The whole idea behind this is for the people in this room,” the Massachusetts senator said. “It’s for people who are tech entrepreneurs it’s for people who have small businesses and want to grow big businesses, it’s for people who have medium-sized businesses and want to grow them,”  Warren added that she does not want large tech firms to use their information and power to stile smaller, rising, firms.

‘We want to keep that marketplace competitive and not let a giant who has an incredible competitive advantage snuff that out,’ Warren said.

Time magazine Editor-at-Large Anand Giridharadas, who moderated the panel, asked Warren what would happen to tech workers in the audience if she managed to break up their Silicon Valley employers.

“Because it’ll be a lot more fun to work there,” Warren responded.