Small-business owner Matt Holyoake recently had a nightmare experience with Google’s Business Profile system. Now, he’s questioning the system’s global dominance – and Google’s avoidance of accountability when it hurts businesses.
If I walked down Lygon Street and threw a brick through the window of every business I passed, there would be repercussions. But somehow, Google can get away with doing far more damage to far more businesses at a far greater scale.
I’m referring to the automated suspension of Google Business Profiles, which has increased at an alarming rate in recent months. Search Engine Journal recorded that posts to Google’s support forums complaining about suspended Business Profiles more than doubled from December 2025 to February 2025.
But shouldn’t Google be able to do what they like with their own platform? After all, Google Business Profiles are a free service, right?
I don’t think so.
If you’re a local business, being findable on Google isn’t optional. There’s no comparable platform you can run to if you’re not happy with Google. No businesses live or die by their presence on Apple Maps.
Because of this, businesses spend years building their Google Business Profiles. They add photos, keep contact details up to date, and ask their customers to leave reviews. All of this information and user engagement help Google dominate the intersection of local search, reviews, and maps. Google then sells this market dominance back to us in the form of ads.
This exchange is as much Google providing you with a “free service” as your employer provides you with “free money”.
Google’s bureaucratic support maze
When Google suspends your Google Business Profile they do so without notice, and without reason. You’re simply sent an email saying “Your profile has been suspended”, and a link to a labyrinth of policy documentation. It’s up to you to figure out why, and you only have two chances to “appeal” their decision.
I went through this recently with my workspace cleaning business. At Google’s request, we submitted several government communications showing our business name, ABN, and business address. Nonetheless, both of our appeals were rejected. Even with years of legitimate reviews, photos of staff in uniform doing commercial cleaning work, and submitting several documents proving we’re a real business, we still weren’t real enough for Google.
If appeals are rejected, your only option is to turn to Google’s support “Community”, where a “Google Product Expert” might answer your questions. This “Expert” isn’t a Google employee. They’re unpaid “everyday Google users who love using Google products”. Basically, Google figured out how to trick their users – paying them with ‘Points’ and ‘Status’ levels – into providing support to other users, rather than funding a real support service.
When one of Google’s Product Experts somehow got our profile reinstated, no reason was given for the downtime. One of our business’ most valuable tools was taken offline for several weeks with no explanation, no human intervention, and no accountability.
In his book ‘The Unaccountability Machine’, Dan Davies introduces the concept of Accountability Sinks, where responsibility for decisions is obscured within complex systems and automated processes. Google’s suspension and support process for Google Business Profiles is a textbook Accountability Sink.
If this were any other platform, I’d simply move on, but this is Google. Millions of local businesses rely only on their platform. But Google has designed it in a way that they are completely irresponsible and unaccountable for the damage they can cause these businesses.
Terrorising small businesses at scale
In a post to Google’s Blog in April, Google’s Director of Product Management for User Generated Content boasts about implementing AI to block “more than 12 million fake Business Profiles”. With my recent experience and countless posts on Reddit and Google’s support forums detailing similar experiences, I’m willing to bet a great chunk of those “12 million fake businesses” are not fake.
Google has built a nightmare system that terrorises small businesses at a previously impossible scale. An obfuscated implementation of AI suspends and disables thousands or millions of Google Business Profiles at a time. While likely removing many fake business profiles, legitimate businesses are also impacted. Those businesses are then dropped into Google’s bureaucratic support maze, with no support and no reason for the suspension. For these businesses, the damage is immediate and measurable.
Should Google be regulated to better protect small businesses?
While I’m hesitant to recommend more regulation, there are three reasons I believe this is called for in the way Google manages businesses using their platform:
- There is no alternative to Google for local businesses.
- There is immediate and measurable economic damage to a business when their profile is suspended
- Google has proven that it will indiscriminately harm small businesses at an enormous scale without providing sufficient notice or support.
A few changes would go a long way to helping protect small businesses from Google, or any other future platform that may accumulate the power to damage them at such a significant scale:
- Businesses shouldn’t be delisted without sufficient notice.
- If businesses are delisted, they need a specific reason for doing so and the means to fix it.
- Businesses need access to a real support service, not just a “community forum”.
