SALEM, Ore. — Oregonians who used the Google Play app store on their Android devices will receive a portion of a $700 million settlement agreement reached by the company in an antitrust lawsuit brought jointly by all 50 states. Become.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced the agreement on Tuesday, saying Google had agreed to “make amends for the more than 100 million customers we wronged.” Oregonians who made purchases on the Google Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023 are eligible, according to a news release from Rosenblum’s office.
Those eligible to receive payments do not need to submit a claim and will automatically receive payments through PayPal or Venmo unless they request a check. The first $630 million of the settlement will be paid as compensation, and the remaining $70 million will go to the state. Details of the payment process will be announced at a later date, according to a news release.
“From the smallest mom-and-pop store to the biggest brands on the planet, all businesses are expected to play by the rules, and this settlement clearly demonstrates that principle,” Rosenblum said in a statement. ” he said.
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Rosenblum’s news release did not say specifically how much of the settlement money will go to users in Oregon or how much individual consumers can expect to get back. A similar Tuesday news release from Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that eligible residents of the state will receive a total of approximately $10.6 million, with a minimum of $2 per person, but will not be able to find any on the Google Play Store. He said it depends on how much you use it.
State attorneys general sued Google in 2021, alleging that the company had created a monopoly on app distribution on devices using the Android operating system (which Google also owns and manufactures) and that its own apps had a higher priority than third-party competing apps. He claimed to have ensured that he had an advantage. party.
According to Rosenblum’s news release, Google preloaded its Google Play Store on Android devices and used anti-competitive agreements to prevent other app stores from being preloaded. The company also acquired developers who launched competing app stores and may have put up “technical barriers” that made it difficult for users to download third-party apps directly outside of the Google Play Store.
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The lawsuit also involves the Google Play Store’s in-app payment processing, and is being filed alongside a lawsuit filed by video game and app developer Epic Games, which deals with Google’s third-party apps. restrictions and a policy that would impose a 15-15 penalty on Google. In-app purchases that users download from the Google Play Store are subject to a 20% fee.
Epic chose to take the case to trial rather than sign a settlement with the states, and although a jury ruled in Epic’s favor last week, Google plans to appeal, Rosenblum said. Associated Press reported. Epic filed a similar lawsuit against Apple, but lost in 2021.
The state settlement requires Google to allow all third-party developers to transact directly with consumers through their own apps rather than through Google Play’s billing system, at least for a limited period of time, Rosenblum’s news release said. It also requires it to change its business practices in a number of ways, including by increasing its business practices. 5 years. Google should also allow developers to advertise their non-Google billing systems within their apps and show lower prices for transactions in those apps.
Google will also be required to make the Play Store the exclusive preloaded app store for Android devices for at least five years and refrain from entering into agreements that allow Android users to easily install third-party apps outside of the Play Store. . He will continue doing so for at least his seventh year, including reducing the number of warnings that appear on Android devices when users try to download and install apps from third parties.