Google has started acting on the notice it issued early this year, where it will no longer offer free Gmail accounts to enterprises and instead they will have to pay a user fee.
For over a decade users have been using the service offered by the tech giant after it assured customers that the service will be for free and that it will not need to charge as the company will be monetising its search by offering advertisements. However now with revenue slowing down, Google is reviewing all its assets and looking at where it can further generate a new revenue stream.
High Ransom
In June the company sent out a notification to account admins with a paywall system and requested payment, users who ignored were automatically upgraded with additional 15Gb storage and converted all GSuite accounts into Workspace.
Effective August 1, Google announced that it will be suspending accounts that don’t pay effectively holding millions of accounts for ransom. Business owners in Malaysia contacted by BusinessToday complained on the high ransom tactic deployed by Google, one user in PJ who runs a tech repair shop said he was aghast when his account was suddenly suspended, he could not access the order records and customer information was kept in his email account. He had to immediately pay the subscription fee and waited a couple of hours before gaining access.
Many other businesses who were using GSuite felt the same way, Norita who runs a social enterprise that employs single mums to bake and distributes them to sundry shops in Klang Valley faced a similar shock when she was shut out just when she was about to receive a confirmation on orders for the day. With over 20 ladies under the operation, she had to pay US$6 per user per month costing her an additional US$120 that she hadn’t budgeted for in the beginning.
Micro business owners all over the world are annoyed with the way Google tricked users to use its platform and once the users have become comfortable and heavily dependent, the company that just recorded US$16 billion in the last quarter pulls this stunt which is hurting MSMEs who are just looking to regain their footing after 2 years of the pandemic.
Government Action
The Malaysian government should stop sucking up to the big techs and impose higher taxes, the 6% Service tax is rather meek and will be passed to users. Instead, the Ministry of Finance should get Google to declare revenue collected from Malaysia just like any other company registered in the country and pay the corporate tax like the rest.
Inland Revenue Board should close all loopholes and tax these foreign giants who take advantage of the tax system without contributing in any form to the development of the country.
In the meantime, MSMEs do be prepared for the suspension coming your way, pay the subscription fee, and start looking for alternative options as you can never trust Google to keep the fees at US$6 or US$60!
