Warren escalates Facebook fight with ad targeting Zuckerberg
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has escalated her tiff with Facebook by running an ad — on Facebook — taking aim at its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
It's the latest example of growing resentment of Big Tech by Republicans and Democrats alike.
The list of grievances is long: Companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are too big and powerful. They're bad for privacy , public discourse, democracy and small business. They're spying on us, contributing to economic inequality and hooking us and our children on addictive, useless services. The companies, of course, object to these characterizations.
Warren, who in March proposed breaking up big tech companies, began running a text ad on Facebook last Thursday to take aim at Zuckerberg.
"Breaking news: Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook just endorsed Donald Trump for re-election," the ad reads. It then goes on to say that while this isn't true, Zuckerberg has "given Donald Trump free rein to lie" on Facebook.
Warren's ad is taking issue with Facebook's policy of not fact-checking politicians' speech or ads, the way it has outside parties fact-check news stories and other posts. Facebook has refused to remove a misleading video ad from President Donald Trump's campaign targeting Democrat Joe Biden.
Political speech and tech companies' role in spreading or stifling it has been an ongoing issue for both sides. Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, urged Twitter to suspend Trump's account for violating the service's rules, while Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri is battling what he considers tech companies' bias against conservatives. Hawley has also told Zuckerberg that he should sell off WhatsApp and Instagram.
The companies, in general, are trying to maintain a neutral stance, even...