Elizabeth Warren puts up billboard saying 'break up big tech' in heart of Silicon Valley

'Today’s big tech companies have too much power. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else,' the campaign says

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Elizabeth Warren is bringing her fight to break up big tech companies right into Silicon Valley, with a billboard just blocks away from some of the industry emerging brands.

The billboard in San Francisco includes a call to “BREAK UP BIG TECH” alongside a phone number for supporters to join in on the effort and to subscribe to updates from the campaign.

The billboard is set to be up until next Wednesday, and is situated close to a well trafficked public transportation stop on the city’s Caltrain.

The placement is bold - right in the heart of a city that made its riches on technology - and is perhaps intended to appeal to the educated workforce making six figures at major tech firms but still unable to afford jobs close to work.

“Today’s big tech companies have too much power. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else,” a statement from the campaign provided to The Independent says.

The statement continues: “And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation. Elizabeth’s plan would help ensure tech giants do not crowd out potential competitors, smother the next generation of great tech companies, and wield so much power that they can undermine our democracy.”

Ms Warren announced her plan to break up big technology firms in March, saying in a plan posted to Medium that her pan would promote small businesses and innovation by ensuring that tech monopolies aren’t able to squash the little guys.

In that plan, she wrote that 70 per cent of all Internet traffic goes through sites owned or operated by Facebook and Google, and that 70 per cent of e-commerce goes through Amazon.

Included in her plan is a promise to block mergers between companies that would limit competition, and by barring companies from using proprietary marketplaces to reduce competition (as in, owning a marketplace like Amazon while also selling in that same marketplace).

Ms Warrens' attack on big tech could have significant downfalls, as she is taking on a major contributor to Democratic political campaigns. But, the candidate has largely eschewed that calculus so far, and has made a point of refusing to take big corporate donations during her 2020 race.