Breaking up Google could hurt small Georgia businesses

As a small business owner, I was very disappointed to learn in the Dec. 2 article “Georgia joins federal antitrust suit against Google” that Attorney General Carr will join the lawsuit against Google, because of the severe impact this lawsuit could have on my business. Attorney General Carr may not realize it, but small businesses like mine are relying increasingly on digital tools and services offered by large technology companies to digitize our businesses and survive COVID-19 shutdowns and quarantines.

I run a tutoring program through an app that uses musical techniques to teach math. With students having to learn from home during the pandemic, online learning is becoming the norm. I am paying for Google ads to reach our targeted customers, but if Attorney General Carr’s lawsuit is successful and Google is broken up into several smaller companies, I might get charged more for those ads. An even worse outcome would be if Google ads are shut down entirely.

Average folks and small businesses are already stressed and just trying to get by. With so much uncertainty in our economy, this is the wrong time for government to break up the companies that are helping so many of us stay in business.

Marcus Blackwell

Marcus Blackwell is CEO of Make Music Count in Atlanta, and a member of the Connected Commerce Council.