US Democrat Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google if elected to the US presidency in 2020.
Seeking to stand out in a crowded Democratic field, Ms Warren told a crowd in Queens, New York, that she was “sick of freeloading billionaires”.
Her regulatory plan would reverse some tech mergers and stop companies from competing on their own platforms.
This would promote competition and safeguard small businesses, she said.
Ms Warren pinpointed the Amazon acquisition of WholeFoods as one she would reverse, along with Facebook’s merger with WhatsApp and Instagram, and Google’s with Waze.
And she said she would halt practices such as Amazon selling on its own Amazon Marketplace platform.
She outlined her proposals in a post on the website Medium. The companies have not yet commented.
Amazon had planned to build a new headquarters close to where Ms Warren spoke but withdrew plans last month, blaming local leaders.
One woman at the rally, who was undecided about who to vote for, said: “What I like is that she’s proposing big ideas.”
