Facebook has banned several ads placed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, days after the Massachusetts Democrat announced a plan to break up “anti-competitive” tech mergers – pointing to Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram as examples of big tech limiting competition.
“Three companies have vast power over our economy and our democracy. Facebook, Amazon, and Google,” read the ads which began to run on Friday, According to Politico. “We all use them. But in their rise to power, they’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field in their favor.”
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. 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. -Elizabeth Warren
Facebook confirmed with Politico that the ads had been taken down and said said the company is reviewing the matter. “The person said, according to an initial review, that the removal could be linked to the company’s policies about using Facebook’s brand in posts.”
