Technology Bernie Sanders says he would ‘absolutely’ try to break up Facebook, Google, Amazon

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today said that if elected president he would “absolutely” look to break up online giants Facebook, Google and Amazon, offering his strongest pledge to date to pursue antitrust enforcement against the tech industry.

Asked at a Washington Post event if his administration would try to split apart those three tech titans, Sanders said, “Absolutely.” He singled out Facebook in particular as having “incredible power over the economy, over the political life of this country in a very dangerous sense.”


His comments followed an assertion that Amazon is “moving very rapidly to be a monopoly."

"And it’s not just Amazon," Sanders continued. "I think we need vigorous antitrust legislation in this country because you are seeing—you name the area, whether it's pharmaceuticals, whether it is Wall Street, whether it is high tech—fewer and fewer gigantic corporation owning those sectors.” He would appoint an attorney general "who would break up these huge corporations,” he added.

Sanders previously told POLITICO that he supports calls to break up Facebook and separately that “we should definitely look at” splinteringAmazon, Apple and Google.

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Technology: Online Privacy Social Media

Sanders also touched on news that the FTC has voted to approve a $5 billion fine for Facebook over its data privacy practices. Asked if the reported settlement was strong enough, Sanders replied, “No, obviously it was not.” Full details of the settlement have not yet been made public.

