It seems Elizabeth Warren has no plans to back down from her calls to break up Big Tech. Recently, the presidential candidate took her message to the tech industry’s hub — San Francisco.
At 4th and Townsend, Warren posted a billboard calling for Big Tech’s breakup. The location happens to be right next to the city’s Caltrain stop. For those who are unaware, that’s a station where a huge chunk of tech workers commute in and out of.
In a tweet, Washington Post reporter Cat Zakrzewski described the location as “typically prime real estate for tech startup ads.”
Warren is pictured on the billboard next to text that reads: “Break up Big Tech.” It also urges people to “join our fight,” by texting the number listed.
Elizabeth Warren's campaign is out with a new billboard in San Francisco today about her plan to breakup Big Tech. It's near the Caltrain station at 4th and Townsend — typically prime real estate for tech startup ads. pic.twitter.com/jCpwhSsYQS
— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) May 29, 2019
It seems Warren also timed her ad pretty well. As reported by Business Insider, Warren is scheduled to visit the Bay Area soon. On Friday, she’s supposed to hold a town hall in Oakland. On Saturday, Warren will appear at the California Democratic Convention and a MoveOn event in San Francisco.
This isn’t the first time Warren has talked about breaking up Big Tech. In March, Warren published a post on Medium addressing the issue. Within it, she called out Big Tech companies for having too much power over “our economy, our society, and our democracy.”
Warren went on to add:
“They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation. I want a government that makes sure everybody — even the biggest and most powerful companies in America — plays by the rules. And I want to make sure that the next generation of great American tech companies can flourish. To do that, we need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor.”
Whispers about breaking up Big Tech have floated around before. What makes Warren unique is that she’s made this a central part of her campaign.
By bringing her message directly to tech workers heading in and out of Silicon Valley, Warren’s making it clear that she’s committed to this issue.