The attorneys general of 36 states and Washington, D.C., sued Google “alleging that the company illegally abused its power over developers that distribute apps through the Google Play store on mobile devices,” according to Bloomberg:
State attorneys general are targeting the fees Google takes from developers for purchases and subscriptions inside apps. The complaint was filed by 36 states and the District of Columbia in San Francisco federal court Wednesday. The complaint marks a new attack by government officials in the U.S. against the search engine’s business practices. The Justice Department and a group of states filed separate complaints over Google’s search business last year, while another state coalition sued over Google’s digital advertising business. The states are taking on Google even after a federal judge in Washington last week threw out their antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. That case accused Facebook of illegally crushing competition by buying Instagram and WhatsApp because it saw them as threats to its business. The judge said the states waited too long to challenge the acquisitions.
This article didn’t have anything about the states suing Apple, who has a similar app policy as Google. Actually, Apple’s stance is worse since they prevent users from side-loading apps or using alternate app stores. So this seems like a strange lawsuit to me. And I wonder if it will actually go the distance. I guess we’ll see.
UPDATE: There’s a story that outlines the accusation that Google used anticompetitive practices in an attempt to “preemptively quash” Samsung’s Galaxy Store, and prevent it from becoming a viable competitor to its own Play Store.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
This entry was posted on July 8, 2021 at 7:53 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google, Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ok Google, You’re Getting Sued Over Play Store Abuse
The attorneys general of 36 states and Washington, D.C., sued Google “alleging that the company illegally abused its power over developers that distribute apps through the Google Play store on mobile devices,” according to Bloomberg:
State attorneys general are targeting the fees Google takes from developers for purchases and subscriptions inside apps. The complaint was filed by 36 states and the District of Columbia in San Francisco federal court Wednesday. The complaint marks a new attack by government officials in the U.S. against the search engine’s business practices. The Justice Department and a group of states filed separate complaints over Google’s search business last year, while another state coalition sued over Google’s digital advertising business. The states are taking on Google even after a federal judge in Washington last week threw out their antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. That case accused Facebook of illegally crushing competition by buying Instagram and WhatsApp because it saw them as threats to its business. The judge said the states waited too long to challenge the acquisitions.
This article didn’t have anything about the states suing Apple, who has a similar app policy as Google. Actually, Apple’s stance is worse since they prevent users from side-loading apps or using alternate app stores. So this seems like a strange lawsuit to me. And I wonder if it will actually go the distance. I guess we’ll see.
UPDATE: There’s a story that outlines the accusation that Google used anticompetitive practices in an attempt to “preemptively quash” Samsung’s Galaxy Store, and prevent it from becoming a viable competitor to its own Play Store.
Share this:
Like this:
Related
This entry was posted on July 8, 2021 at 7:53 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google, Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.