NetChoice, an e-commerce trade group whose members include Facebook and Google, pushed back against Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) new policy proposal for the breaking-up of American tech companies like Amazon.
Warren published a piece on Medium arguing Amazon, Google, and Facebook need to "break up" monopolies in order to promote competitive markets. She would go on to say that the big tech companies have " too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy" and that they have "bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else."
Carl Szabo, the Vice President and General Counsel for NetChoice, whose members include Facebook, PayPal, Google, eBay, Etsy, Twitter, etc., pushed back against Warren's assertion that tech markets lack competition.
"Never before have consumers and workers had more access to goods, services, and opportunities online," Szabo said. "Breaking up tech companies would hurt—not help—America’s middle class."
"Sen. Warren’s proposal would increase prices for consumers, make search and maps less useful, and raise costs to small businesses that advertise online. This proposal is bad for all Americans," Szabo continued.
Warren's position on Amazon contradicts her embrace for it in March 2017 and later in November 2018 when she voiced her frustration with Amazon for not choosing Boston to be the location of HQ2. She wouldn't say on Friday whether she would have been OK with Amazon setting up a second headquarters in Boston.
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