US Court Approves Tentative Agreement in Google Play Store Antitrust Case
(Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday tentatively settled a class-action lawsuit alleging its U.S. Play Store violated U.S. federal antitrust laws by overcharging customers, according to a court filing.
Details of the settlement were not released.
In a lawsuit filed by more than 30 US states and representing 21 million consumers, the plaintiffs argued that consumers might have spent less on apps and had more choices if Google’s alleged monopoly did not exist.
The parties to the settlement, including attorneys representing the Utah attorney general who leads the group of states, asked to cancel the Nov. 6 trial.
Google, which had denied wrongdoing, declined to comment on the proposed settlement. Attorneys for the consumer plaintiffs declined to comment on the proposed settlement, while counsel for the plaintiffs, which include the states and the District of Columbia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mediation is subject to court approval.
Google is facing similar lawsuits alleging that it has made huge profit margins on its Play Store by engaging in illegal tactics to maintain monopolies in the sale of Android apps and in-app products.
They allege that Google illegally authorized some apps to use the company’s payment tools and give Google up to 30 percent of digital product sales.
Epic Games, which has filed such a lawsuit, is not a party to the proposed Google Play settlement, founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“If Google ends its payments monopoly without imposing a Google tax on third-party transactions, we will agree and be friends with Google in their new era,” he said, adding that if the settlement leaves the “Google tax” in place, the company will “fight forward.”
Match Group has also filed a lawsuit. A spokesman for Match declined to comment.
In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 21-md-02981.
