Elizabeth Warren Rips Facebook After It Reinstates Her Anti-Facebook Ads
Sen. Elizabeth Warren ripped Facebook on Monday night, saying it has “too much power,” after the social network removed — and later reinstated — her ads lambasting the company and other tech giants for trampling competition.
The ads came after the presidential candidate recently unveiled her plan to break up “anti-competitive” tech mergers, like Facebook’s buyout of WhatsApp and Instagram.
“Three companies have vast power over our economy and our democracy. Facebook, Amazon, and Google,” the ads, which started running last Friday, said. “We all use them. But in their rise to power, they’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field in their favor.”
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The ads were taken down for violating Facebook’s ad policy, Politico first reported Monday. A Facebook rep told the outlet the ads were pulled for using the company’s logo but were later reinstated to encourage “robust debate.” Facebook did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Warren weighed in on the matter on Twitter soon after Politico’s story broke. “Curious why I think [Facebook] has too much power? Let’s start with their ability to shut down a debate over whether [it] has too much power.”
Curious why I think FB has too much power? Let's start with their ability to shut down a debate over whether FB has too much power. Thanks for restoring my posts. But I want a social media marketplace that isn't dominated by a single censor. #BreakUpBigTech https://t.co/UPS6dozOxn
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 11, 2019
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Warren added in a follow-up tweet, “you shouldn’t have to contact Facebook’s publicists in order for them to decide to ‘allow robust debate’ about Facebook. They shouldn’t have that much power.”
Warren’s proposal to rein in Silicon Valley last week compared the current tech landscape to a modern day Gilded Age, where smaller companies are unable to compete with the big players. “We need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor,” Warren said.
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