Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said that if elected president she would break up top tech giants Amazon and Alphabet's Google and Facebook, sayign they have 'too much power' and have 'bulldozed competition.'

The Friday statement by the presidential contender and consumer protection advocate had an immediate impact on the company stocks.

Warren is polling in the first or second tier of potential presidential candidates, earning an average of 7 per cent support in a polling average – though to implement her ideas she would have to capture both the nomination and defeat President Trump.

Warren described her plans in an essay published on Medium that made the case for promoting competition.

Breakup plan: Elizabeth Warren says she would use regulators to stop tech giants Google, Amazon and Facebook from

'Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy,' she wrote. '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.'

Amazon shares fell 1.5 percent and Facebook and Alphabet shares were down 0.6 percent in morning trade on Friday.

Warren, a former academic, became a liberal favorite after she helped create the first consumer financial protection board.

Warren, who is seeking to stand out in a Democratic field crowded with progressives, said the companies have been allowed to purchase potential competitors, like Facebook's acquisition of Instagram.

She made her policy pitch as she seeks to distinguish herself from other contenders, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has gone after Amazon to try to get the shipping and Internet giant to boost wages.

Sanders introduced legislation, named after Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, that would seek to tax companies whose workers are forced to rely on government benefits for health care and living costs.

The acronym comes from its title: 'Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies.'

She also said she would appoint regulators who would rely on existing antitrust laws 'to break up mergers that reduce competition.'

She said they would rely on those tools to 'unwind anti-competitive mergers, including: Amazon: Whole Foods; Zappos Facebook: WhatsApp; Instagram Google: Waze; Nest; DoubleClick.'

In her pitch to rein in the influence of tech giants, the Massachusetts senator envisions legislation targeting companies with annual worldwide revenue of $25 billion or more, limiting their ability to expand and forcing parts of Google and Amazon's current business structure to operate as separate entities.

Challenge: Elizabeth Warren is putting herself head to head with the tech giant bosses, with Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook and Jezz Bezos' Amazon in her sights

As president, Warren said she would pick regulators who would seek to break up what she called 'anti-competitive mergers' such as Facebook's recent purchase of Instagram and Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods.

She made the pitch before a town hall appearance later in the day in the New York City neighborhood where Amazon recently scrapped plans to open a new headquarters.

'Today's big tech companies have too much power - too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy,' Warren said.

It remains to be seen whether Warren will introduce legislation in the current Congress aligning with the first element of her plan. A spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman, said a bill introduction was not imminent.

Warren described the current crop of big tech firms as a threat to business innovation.

'As these companies have grown larger and more powerful, they have used their resources and control over the way we use the Internet to squash small businesses and innovation, and substitute their own financial interests for the broader interests of the American people,' she wrote.

'To restore the balance of power in our democracy, to promote competition, and to ensure that the next generation of technology innovation is as vibrant as the last, it’s time to break up our biggest tech companies.'

According to OpenSecrets, individuals from Alphabet Inc. came in 9th among firms that have contributed most to Warren's campaigns from 2013 to 2018. They collectively gave some $41,000 out of $8 million raised.

Warren's latest policy proposal promised to be a central element of her New York appearance as well as her scheduled visit Saturday to the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas.

One of her 2020 rivals, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, has faced criticism for his past closeness to the tech industry. A Booker spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on Booker's view of Warren's new proposal.

Warren said that she would nominate regulators who would unwind mergers such as Facebook's deals for WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon's deals for Whole Foods and Zappos, and Google's purchase of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick.

Amazon, Google and Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.