Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren's Plan to 'Break Up' Big Tech Companies Could Affect Apple's App Store

[MacRumors]

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is in the running for the 2020 presidential race as a Democratic candidate, today outlined her proposal for "breaking up" tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Facebook in an effort to combat monopolistic behavior (via CNBC). Apple is not directly mentioned in Warren's post on Medium, but a representative from her campaign confirmed the plan would affect Apple.

In essence, Warren wants to make "big, structural changes" to the technology sector in order to promote increased competition. The presidential candidate says that these companies have too much power "over our economy, our society, and our democracy," in the process hurting small businesses and stifling innovation.

To combat this, Warren proposes a path to restoring competition to the tech sector in two major steps. The first is by passing legislation that requires large tech platforms to be designated as "Platform Utilities" and broken apart from any participant on that platform.

This first step is what would directly affect Apple, as the App Store would become a Platform Utility, and any of Apple's first-party apps on it would not be allowed. So, the company would have to choose between running the App Store or building and selling its own apps, according to Warren spokeswoman Saloni Sharma. The same law would hit Amazon on its Marketplace and Google's ad exchange.

Second, the Warren administration would appoint regulators committed to reversing anti-competitive tech mergers. These include "unwinding" mergers like Amazon/Whole Foods/Zappos, Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram, and Google/Waze/Nest/DoubleClick.

Warren argues that undoing these mergers would promote healthy competition in the market, putting pressure back on big tech companies that would make them more responsive to user concerns, particularly about privacy. "Facebook would face real pressure from Instagram and WhatsApp to improve the user experience and protect our privacy," says Warren.

Toward the end of her blog post, Warren summed up her strategy:

Here’s what won’t change: You’ll still be able to go on Google and search like you do today. You’ll still be able to go on Amazon and find 30 different coffee machines that you can get delivered to your house in two days. You’ll still be able to go on Facebook and see how your old friend from school is doing.

Here’s what will change: Small businesses would have a fair shot to sell their products on Amazon without the fear of Amazon pushing them out of business. Google couldn’t smother competitors by demoting their products on Google Search. Facebook would face real pressure from Instagram and WhatsApp to improve the user experience and protect our privacy. Tech entrepreneurs would have a fighting chance to compete against the tech giants.

Warren is among a dozen Democrats who have announced their runs for the 2020 presidential bid over the past few months, also including senator Kamala Harris, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, governor Jay Inslee, and senator Bernie Sanders. Confirmed Republican candidates running next year include president Donald Trump and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren's Plan to 'Break Up' Big Tech Companies Could Affect Apple's App Store

 

[smaffei]

And, just like that, Warren's campaign is over.

 

[AppleMad98004]

Yup...She's done. Besides all of the companies would sue and probably win at SCOTUS

 

[Marzel]

Someone needs to tell her that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are all one and the same...

Edit: Ok, I got it wrong. What she is actually proposing is impossible to happen.

 

[aforty]

Good, that's actually what we need.

 

[btbeme]

And, just like that, Warren's campaign is over.

Never had a chance anyway.

 

[notabadname]

I was hoping we could go just a little longer before the next election cycle really began. Sigh . . . .

 

[AppleFan91]

She intrigued me over the past year or two. I was concerned when she announced her campaign as I feel her past may be too much to overcome. This just adds another thing to use against her. She’d probably be best to bow out

 

[pika2000]

And there she goes.
Oh well, she got her 15 minute of fame.

 

[nviz22]

I never anticipated Warren to be the final Democrat standing anyways. I just can't see this "platform utility" idea working.

 

[rjohnstone]

She fails to understand that some of these mergers helped save good products from the scrap bin due to the creators lack of funds to push them forward.

 

[El Burro]

I hope she wins the nomination so it’s an easy win for Trump.

 

[street.cory]

Someone needs to tell her that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are all one and the same...

This was the biggest question mark I had about the whole thing. Like, if this is such a well-thought out plan and idea, then how in the world would this slip through the cracks?

I agree with some of these concepts in theory, but in practice it seems untenable. She needs to stick with bullying the financial sector. She at least knows a lot more about it.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

The Ds need to get their crap together because stuff like this is going to get us another four years of President Trump.

 

[twocents]

Doesn't she have another awkward beer to drink?

 

[hagjohn]

Her campaign was never going anywhere anyway but she does have a point where large corporations, especially financial corps) do have too much power in this country. Big Tech has too much of our data.

 

[Solver]

Dang! How can the people break up big government?

 

[Col4bin]

She strikes me as a little looney. (Not that DT is any better.) I hate politics.

 

[NinjaHERO]

The rise of the megacorp is definitely becoming a problem. Sadly, I don't know enough about her proposal to know if this would actually make things better or not.

 

[gnipgnop]

And, just like that, Warren's campaign is over.

If anything, it probably helps her campaign. She's being aggressive and not shying away from bigger ideas. Trying to be a middle of the road candidate wouldn't work for Warren. There are going to be other Democratic candidates vying for the centrist slot and it remains to be seen how popular the centrist approach is going to be with voters.

 

[Boatboy24]

The next 12 months for the Democratic candidates will be all about who can appear the most radical. Then, after they've all bloodied each other, Biden is going to waltz in for the nomination.

 

[nwcs]

While I think antitrust laws have been neutered over the last 50 years, I don’t think this is the particular way to “go after” the oligarchy of technology. Besides, a President can’t ultimately force legislation as Congress needs to pass it and it likely won’t happen. Too many $$$ at work for that. Executive orders likely wouldn’t apply and would be overridden anyway.

The answer is simple: enforce current antitrust laws and stop allowing mergers that go against them. Genie is already out of the bottle, though, and there is little gumption left in government to address real issues. Hasn’t been for decades.

 

[dannyyankou]

Break up. What does that mean exactly?

 

[Solver]

Big business or big government? At least consumers have a choice about one of them.

 

[gnipgnop]

The next 12 months for the Democratic candidates will be all about who can appear the most radical.

Putting the brakes on merger mania in the corporate world isn't all that radical. Guaranteed the majority of voters have concerns about the power of huge corporations.