American small businesses punch above their weight, remain competitive and thrive thanks to powerful tools built by America’s largest and most innovative companies. One great example is Google’s integrated toolbox, which includes search, Chrome and Android. Business owners across Louisiana and America use these tools to coordinate everything from inventory deliveries to customer outreach. It’s the kind of innovation that makes technology a game-changer for our modern society.
This is just one of the reasons why we remain concerned that the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) continued push to dismantle those tools would hurt Main Street businesses first and have a devastating effect on Louisiana and America’s economy. Even though the district court judge rejected the worst of the DOJ’s proposed remedies, there are still proposals on the table that would harm our economy, undermine Google services that millions of businesses use every day, and negatively impact every American in some way.
For example, the DOJ is still seeking to insert itself into Google’s business practices, something that rarely goes well. This would hold back one of America’s leading companies in the next great technology, artificial intelligence (AI), a major boon for China, to say the least. Even the judge admitted that the landscape of the tech sector has already dramatically changed since the case was brought years ago, before companies like OpenAI even existed. Yet, despite this and the intense competition currently underway in the AI sector, the court ruled that Google still needs the government to intervene in its business.
China is investing heavily in its own high-tech industrial base, aiming to surpass America’s initial lead in AI, and it is well-prepared to do so. In fact, China has already doubled the U.S.’s electricity production, making it easier for them to train new models like DeepSeek. Giving them even more of an edge by tying the hands of one of America’s most effective creators of tools for innovation and growth would be disastrous. Entrepreneurs in Louisiana need modern, integrated digital infrastructure, not overreaching antitrust policy that makes commerce more difficult and undermines American competitiveness.
It is time for the DOJ to move on, return the consumer welfare standard to its rightful place at the heart of government antitrust efforts, and choose a path that keeps America prosperous and innovative by preserving the tools small businesses rely on, not dismantling them.
