Tech giants may have to be broken up, says Tim Berners-Lee

Web inventor says Silicon Valley firms have too much clout and 'optimism has cracked'

Tech giants such as Facebook and Google have grown so dominant they may need to be broken up, unless challengers or changes in taste reduce their clout, Tim Berners-Lee has said.

Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who invented the world wide web in 1989, said he was disappointed with the current state of the internet, following scandals over the abuse of personal data and the use of social media to spread hate.