Elizabeth Warren has been calling out “big tech” firms like Facebook, Amazon, and Google. The Massachusetts Senator and presidential hopeful says she wants to “break up” the mega-companies and start “putting customers first. But on Monday, some people thought one of those “big tech” firms seemed to be striking back at the outspoken senator. That’s because Facebook took down an ad published by the Warren campaign. Ironically — or not so ironically — that ad calls for the “break up” of big tech companies like Facebook itself. The ad, which is voiced by Warren, singles out Facebook, Google, and Amazon. It concludes, “It’s time to break up these big companies so they don’t have so much power over everyone else. I’ve got a plan to protect consumers and competition. And if you agree that we should do this, join me.”
To be clear, Facebook didn’t take down the post on Warren’s website, which was first published on Friday. But the company did not allow Warren’s campaign to “boost” the post by turning it into an ad. Here’s what the rejection from Facebook looked like:
Facebook told journalists that they had taken down the ad because it used the Facebook logo. But after getting push-back from media and from the Warren campaign, the company reversed direction and decided to allow the ads. “We removed the ads because they violated our policies against use of our corporate logo,” the spokesperson said. “In the interest of allowing robust debate, we are restoring the ads.”
Elizabeth Warren thanked Facebook for putting her ad back up. But the candidate also stressed that the very fact that this happened at all is a sign that, in her view, big tech needs to be held in check. She tweeted, “Curious why I think FB has too much power? Let’s start with their ability to shut down a debate over whether FB has too much power. Thanks for restoring my posts. But I want a social media marketplace that isn’t dominated by a single censor. #BreakUpBigTech”