Google sued by 36 US states over alleged play store abuse

Alphabet Inc’s Google was sued by three dozen states alleging that the company illegally abused its power over the sale and distribution of apps through the Google Play store on mobile devices.

State attorneys general said in a complaint filed on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco that Google used anticompetitive tactics to thwart competition and ensure that developers have no choice but to go through the Google Play store to reach users. It then collects an “extravagant” commission of up to 30% on app purchases, the states said.

Google was accused of paying Samsung Electronics Co., the largest Android manufacturer, to ensure that the Korean company didn’t develop its own competing app store. Additionally, after Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. began distributing its app outside of Google’s store, Google “bought off” developers to dissuade them from doing the same, according to the complaint. Details of those payouts were blacked out in the complaint.


The company said the lawsuit “gets it wrong” by limiting the definition of the app marketplace to Android devices and ignoring that Google competes with Apple Inc. for developers and consumers.

“We don't impose the same restrictions as other mobile operating systems do,” Wilson White, Google's Senior Director of Public Policy, said in a blog post. “So it's strange that a group of state attorneys general chose to file a lawsuit attacking a system that provides more openness and choice than others.”

New York is leading the case with Utah, North Carolina and Tennessee. Bloomberg