Small Business Marketing Experts Applaud District Court’s Dismissal of State AGs Lawsuit Against Google
Washington, DC (August 4, 2023): Several small business marketing experts and the Connected Commerce Council (3C), an advocacy organization representing digitally empowered small businesses, applauded U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amit Mehta’s dismissal of several state Attorneys General (AG) lawsuit, led by Colorado, against Google’s Search products. The AGs argued that Google unfairly reduces traffic to sites like Kayak, Booking.com, and Yelp.
“Today’s decision is a big win for the millions of American small businesses that use free tools like Google Business Profile and search engine optimization to find new customers and grow their business,” said Salil Gandhi, a small business marketing consultant and founder of SBO Buzz in Chicago, IL. “If the AGs won this case, it would have forced Google to undo the last ten years of innovations in online search. Small businesses do not want their customers directed to lower-quality, third-party sites that may have inaccurate information or charge businesses to update information. That would be a huge win for publicly traded companies and their shareholders, at the cost of small businesses’ bottom lines.”
Judge Mehta granted Google’s motion for summary judgment in this part of the case agreeing with Google’s argument that its search results are designed to better service consumers by directing them to reputable websites, providing detailed information in the results, and connecting them directly to businesses they are searching is not anti-competitive.
“What Attorneys General and the policymakers that want to rewrite U.S. law drastically fail to understand is that the current online ecosystem works well for small businesses,” added Beth Egan, an associate professor of advertising at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. “Whether buying affordable keyword ads through Google or relying on free tools and SEO to promote your business, it has never been easier or more affordable for small businesses to find customers and compete with much larger brands. If regulators or policymakers change how that ecosystem works, it will certainly impact small businesses, who cannot afford to be the collateral damage in Washington’s war on leading technology companies.”
The decision comes amid several proposals to drastically change U.S. antitrust laws. Legislation in the U.S. Senate, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and the AMERICA Act, sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), would rewrite the rules of the digital economy to prop up large, publicly traded companies at the expense of consumers and small businesses.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and innovative digital tools and services from America’s leading technology technologies have empowered millions of businesses,” said 3C Executive Director Rob Retzlaff. “The AG case and legislation from Sens. Klobuchar and Grassley are trying to prop up lesser quality alternatives that will ultimately slow innovation and make digital tools harder and more expensive for small businesses to use. New laws and regulations that make it harder for small businesses to compete in the digital economy is the opposite of promoting competition.”
