On Wednesday, a union of state attorneys general filed a new antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of abusing its control of Google Play.
Google faces lawsuit in 36 states
According to The Verge, the lawsuit, filed by 36 states and Washington, DC, in California federal court, challenges Google’s policy forcing Google Play app developers to pay a 30 percent commission fee on sales made through the app.
Later last year Google responded to the feedback of developers, trying to make a clarification with regards to their Payment Policy. The tech company said that the policy — which states that developers are required to pay a service fee from a percentage of purchase — is only applicable to 3 % of developers with apps on Google Play. It is reported that the apps that are required to pay this service fee are prominent apps that had previously been able to dodge the tax.
“We’ve always required developers who distribute their apps on Play to use Google Play’s billing system if they offer in-app purchases of digital goods, and pay a service fee from a percentage of the purchase,” Google said on the Android Developers Blog.
Google responds to the lawsuit
“It’s strange that a group of state attorneys general chose to file a lawsuit attacking a system that provides more openness and choice than others,” Google wrote in a blog post, responding to the lawsuit.
“This complaint mimics a similarly meritless lawsuit filed by the large app developer Epic Games, which has benefitted from Android’s openness by distributing its Fortnite app outside of Google Play,” Google added.
In August 2020, Google faced a similar lawsuit by Epic Games. Epic’s complaint alleged that Google’s payment restrictions on the Play Store constitute a monopoly, and thus a violation of both the Sherman Act and California’s Cartwright Act, which resulted in Epic’s famous game ‘Fortnite’ being removed on Google Play.
Initially, when ‘Fortnite’ arrived on Google Play, Epic Games had been battling with longstanding concerns over the Play Store policy of taking 30 percent of all in-app purchases.
“After 18 months of operating Fortnite on Android outside of the Google Play Store, we’ve come to a basic realization,” the company said at the time, “Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage.”