Letter to the editor: Google lawsuit could hurt small businesses

The article “38 states, including Pennsylvania, file anti-trust lawsuit against Google” (Dec. 17, TribLIVE) outlines how elected officials are filing another antitrust lawsuit against Google. It is the job of the government to promote a competitive marketplace, but this lawsuit could have unintended consequences for small businesses.

One of the alleged abuses of power is using “discriminatory conduct on its search results page” to uprank the direct link to a particular business, rather than to Yelp or TripAdvisor ratings pages. It makes sense for Google to do this because the consumer is searching for a business, not a third party’s website that may not have accurate information or has an outdated menu. I want people searching for my product to easily find our website, not some middleman website.

I’m sure Attorney General Josh Shapiro means to promote real innovation that benefits Pennsylvanians. The trick is to ensure that his actions don’t accidentally harm small businesses.

Dr. Wei-Shin Lai

Erie

The writer is co-founder of SleepPhones and a member of the Connected Commerce Council.