Just to give you a perspective on how unfair and ridiculous this is to startups here is a simple example. Before the recent price increase, Google Maps charged approximately .50 cents CPMs for map views. That is .50 cents for every thousand visitors. Now they are proposing to charge $5 CPMs for map views. For most companies who publish information on maps for free (with ads), it is now unprofitable to publish any sort of Google Map.
This will effectively cannibalize Google's advertising business long term which so heavily depends on small businesses and publishers. For publishers who rely on Google AdSense, you can effectively say goodbye to any geospatial-related information published on Google Maps. If a publisher is making on average $1-5 CPMs from advertising how can you pay Google Maps effectively a $5 CPM (new pricing) without losing money?
Well . . . they effectively shut me down or forced me to use another mapping platform like MapBox, Here, TomTom, or Open Street Map. There are huge costs associated with moving to a new platform. I have been using Google Maps to publish public safety information since they launched Google Maps 10+ years ago. It's sad to see that the company has become so big that it is forgotten about the small businesses that thrive under the platforms.