Dozens of states files antitrust lawsuit against Google over Play Store fees

A group of 36 states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google on Wednesday, claiming its Android app store has violated antitrust laws.

The lawsuit is the fourth state or federal antitrust complaint filed against Google since October, but the first to scrutinize the company’s lucrative app store for abusing its market power and for forcing aggressive terms on software developers.

The antitrust complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, led by Utah, North Carolina, New York and Tennessee.

The lawsuit said, “Google has taken steps to close the ecosystem from competition and insert itself as the middleman between app developers and consumers,” adding that when Google acquired the Android operating system in 2005, the search giant promised that Android would be the basis for an “open” ecosystem.

The attorney generals mentioned that Google dominates the apps distribution market on Android devices through its Play Store and charges high commission fees. Google forces app developers and businesses to use its proprietary payments technology and pay a commission fee for any in-app purchases of up to 30%.

“To collect and maintain this extravagant commission, Google has employed anticompetitive tactics to diminish and disincentivize competition in Android app distribution,” the complaint reads.

“Google has not only targeted potentially competing app stores, but also has ensured that app developers themselves have no reasonable choice but to distribute their apps through the Google Play Store.”

Even though it is possible to install applications on Android smartphones without Google’s store, the lawsuit mentions that the search giant makes those approaches “unreasonably difficult for consumers so that Google can maintain its monopoly position.”

Later, Google, in a statement, said, “If you don’t find the app you’re looking for in Google Play, you can choose to download the app from a rival app store or directly from a developer’s website. We don’t impose the same restrictions as other mobile operating systems do.”

The lawsuit against Alphabet follows Fortnite maker Epic Games’ litigation against Apple Inc over its App Store practices, claiming iPhone-maker’s violates antitrust laws and forces developers to pay “Apple Tax”, which is a commission for using its App Store for distributing applications.

Epic is also suing Google for similar reasons.

Picture Credit: Business Standard