Google will pay $700 million and transform its Play App Store to allow for greater competition as part of an antitrust settlement with states and consumers.
The agreement, announced Monday, calls for Google to pay $630 million into a consumer settlement fund and $70 million into a fund to be used by states. However, the settlement requires final approval from a judge.
According to the proposed settlement, consumers who made purchases on Google Play between August 16, 2016 and September 30, 2023 are eligible for compensation. There is no need to file a claim. You can choose to receive automatic payments through PayPal or Venmo, or receive a check or ACH transfer. Eligible consumers will receive at least $2 and can receive additional payments based on their spending.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a group of 52 other attorneys general were involved in the case. “The group has filed a bipartisan national lawsuit against Google, alleging that Google illegally monopolizes the market for Android app distribution and in-app payment processing,” Monday’s press release said. .
Specifically, Google entered into anti-competition agreements to prevent other app stores from being preloaded on Android devices, acquired major app developers who may have launched rival app stores, and It claimed to have put up technological barriers to prevent consumers from downloading apps directly to their devices.
In most of the lawsuits, the group joined forces with Fortnite maker Epic Games and another app developer, Match. Match announced another settlement earlier this year, but Epic Games filed a lawsuit. Early last week, a California jury unanimously found that Google’s anticompetitive conduct violated federal antitrust laws.
The settlement was announced Sept. 5, but the agreement was not finalized until Monday, according to the release. Google denied any wrongdoing.
The settlement requires Google to reform its business practices, including:
- Allow all developers to allow users to pay through in-app billing systems other than Google Play Billing for at least five years.
- Allows developers to offer apps and in-app products at lower prices to consumers who have used an alternative billing system other than Google for at least five years.
- Allows developers to drive consumers to alternative pricing systems other than Google by advertising lower prices within their apps for at least five years.
- Don’t enter into a contract that requires the Play Store to be the exclusive app store preloaded on your device or home screen for at least five years.
- Allow third-party apps to be installed on Android smartphones from outside the Google Play Store for at least seven years.
- Fixes and reduces warnings that appear on Android devices when users try to download third-party apps from outside the Google Play Store for at least five years.
- Maintain Android system support for third-party app stores for four years, including allowing automatic updates.
- Don’t require developers to launch their app catalogs on the Play Store at the same time as publishing on other app stores for at least four years.
- Compliance reports are submitted to independent monitors who ensure that Google has not engaged in ongoing anti-competitive behavior for at least five years.
Wilson White, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said in a statement Monday that the settlement “builds on the choice and flexibility of Android, maintains strong security protections, and supports other (operating systems) ) preserves Google’s ability to compete with manufacturers.” Invest in the Android ecosystem for users and developers. ”
The lawsuit was led by the attorneys general of North Carolina, Utah, Tennessee, New York, and California, and was joined by the attorneys general of all remaining states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands territories. State regulators have spent hundreds of hours negotiating the settlement, according to Monday’s court filing.
Google also faces other lawsuits over its search and digital advertising practices. The company denies any wrongdoing in these incidents.
Paxton took on Google to protect Texas’ consumer market from false and misleading ads, and in May, the tech giant accused Google of deceptive ads promoting its Google Pixel 4 smartphone. announced that it would pay an $8 million settlement with the company.