Google has announced earlier today that it will pay the settlement amount of $700 million to resolve the antitrust lawsuit over its illegal conduct in the Google Play Store. The settlement will result in paying $630 million to US consumers, while the remaining $70 million will be added to the fund, used by US states. The settlement took place back in September in a class action lawsuit as the consumers have filed it on the search engine giant for its monopoly over the app distribution channels through the Android Store.
Background of the Lawsuit
In 2021, a group of state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the search engine giant Google in which they accused the company of having a monopolistic approach in the Android app market, more commonly referred to as Google Play Store. The lawsuit stated that Google has inflated the prices for paid apps and their associated in-app purchases. Hence, it posed a technical barrier for the third-party app developers to scale their growth. Also, this monopoly has forced developers and app users to use its payment processing service, called Google Play Billing. The lawsuit further revealed that the charges of this method are as high as 30% per single transaction.
Settlement
Back in September 2023, the US attorneys and consumers won the case over the Play Store and now, Google has announced that it will pay $700 million to settle this issue. Further, the tech giant has clarified that users can have their own choice for billing in the United States. Although this pilot program was started in November 2022, it is still to be available across the globe. In the current announcement, the company has also confirmed that the program will be available worldwide soon.
Google has further claimed that the developers can now show different costs of purchase in their app. However, the amount will surely vary based on the billing method adopted by the customers. As a result, it ensures transparency for both consumers and developers.
What does Google Say?
Wilson White, the current VP of Government Affairs & Public Policy at Google, has shared his thoughts on the sideloading popups, users have experienced recently while installing the apps from Google Play. He stated that the sideloading can cause potential risks to the users as they are currently working on the settlement affairs. Further, the settlement agreement has clarified that the company will have to resolve this problem of sideloading in the coming five years.
What is Coming Next?
The settlement of the antitrust lawsuit against Play Store has made Google pay $700 million to the US states and consumers, delivering a significant statement for the big tech companies to modify their policies and incorporate the right elements into their marketing as well as billing strategies. On the other hand, Google will also experience a certain downfall as it also has lost the antitrust battle against Epic Games. While the owners are quite hopeful to come out of the crisis, it will surely take time.
