US states reach tentative settlement with Google over Play Store case
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN
New York (CNN) — Google reached an agreement in principle with US states to settle an antitrust lawsuit for its alleged conduct in the Google Play Store, according to a Tuesday court filing.
This lawsuit was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and attorneys general from California, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. The lawsuit, which accused Google of monopolistic practices, was filed in 2021 and alleged the company inflated prices for paid apps and in-app purchases in the Android app market.
In 2021, Google responded to the lawsuit in a blog post saying, “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.”
Google said it did not have a comment at this time.
“No company is too big to play by the rules, including Google. We brought this lawsuit because it is illegal to use monopoly power to drive up prices,” the attorneys general said in a statement.
The lawsuit alleged that Google imposes technical barriers for third-party app developers and that it forces app developers and users to use its payment processing service, Google Play Billing, which charges fees as high as 30% a transaction.
The tech giant is battling another closely watched antitrust showdown this month. In mid-September, Google is going to trial against a group of states and the Justice Department alleging the design of its search page has harmed rivals such as Yelp or Expedia. The Justice Department first sued Google during the Trump administration over its dominance in online search.
Another lawsuit was brought by the Biden administration in January, which argues Google’s ad tech business should be broken up.
On Wednesday, the attorneys general said the Play Store settlement agreement, which will be subject to court approval, has yet to be finalized and more details will be shared publicly in the next 30 days.
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