Elizabeth Warren goes after Big Tech where they live with San Francisco billboard

Elizabeth Warren has plopped her proposal to break up Big Tech right in Big Tech's front yard.

The Democratic presidential candidate put up a pretty striking billboard in San Francisco on Wednesday, ahead of her visit to the city this weekend. As noted by The Verge, the billboard is located at 4th and Townsend, wedged between the city's SOMA and Mission Bay neighborhoods, spitting distance from a heavily trafficked Caltrain station, Lyft HQ, and Oracle Park, where the San Francisco Giants play.

If there's one downside to the billboard, it's that it doesn't have the most prominent placement, lingering below another billboard along the side of a building. Of course, if billboard prices are anything like SF real estate, that's understandable.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Warren's latest volley is her most direct attack yet on Big Tech, hitting them where they live with her message of breaking up three of tech's biggest companies, two of whom (Facebook and Google) call Silicon Valley home.

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In March, Warren announced that her goal of breaking up these tech behemoths was a major tent pole of her 2020 campaign in a Medium post (complete with a Bing zinger).

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

It's as detailed a plan as any 2020 candidate has outlined so far and Warren has kept beating the breakup drum on the campaign trail.

A spokesperson for the Warren campaign gave this statement to Mashable:

"Today’s big tech companies have too much power. 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. Elizabeth's plan would help ensure tech giants do not crowd out potential competitors, smother the next generation of great tech companies, and wield so much power that they can undermine our democracy." 

We've also reached out to Amazon, Facebook, and Google for comment on the billboard and will update with any additional information.