Google agrees to pay $700M and make app store changes, like offering an alternative billing system, to settle a 2021 antitrust lawsuit by 36 US states and DC
but it also plans to appeal the jury verdict. Sure looks like an admission of guilt to me https://www.theverge.com/... Mastodon: Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : Google just settled an antitrust lawsuit around their 30% cut in Google Play being overcharging customers versus letting people get the apps elsewhere or let developers use their own in-app billing. The optics of Apple creating “privacy” features that forced apps like Snapchat to add subscriptions to make up for lost ad revenue of which Apple gets a 30% cut just looks suspicious I called this an open & shut antitrust case when ATT announced and instead Google got hit 🤷🏾♂️ Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : In addition to losing the Epic case, Google is going to pay $700 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit from all 50 US states for making it difficult for users to download apps from outside Google Play thus overcharging customers via its 30% cut of in-app payments. It does look somewhat unfair that Google is effectively losing cases for Google Play being open but not open enough while Apple skates by because it's closed. Unfortunately it's the bait & switch that got 'em. X: Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Here is a link to the full settlement. Yes, I was the one who purchased it on Pacer so y'all could have it for free. You're welcome. Just let me know what you think so I can read your comments in the morning. Commitments start on p18. Thanks. https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ... [image] Amy Klobuchar / @amyklobuchar : Like I've said for quite a while, these rip off App Store charges are bad and require a federal law. And turns out they are at least $700 million bad.... 👀 Google to pay $700 million to US states, consumers in app store settlement. https://www.startribune.com/ ... Mike Swift / @swiftstories : I think @TimSweeneyEpic is forgetting about a little thing called the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Whatever Judge Donato does is going to be appealed ... Florian Mueller / @florian4gamers : The timing is also quite obvious: Google must have agreed with the states not to announce the terms of that settlement until after the jury verdict as they didn't want this de facto admission of guilt to make news that the jurors could have heard about. Florian Mueller / @florian4gamers : If Google had believed they were likely to defend themselves successfully, they'd have told those 37 state AGs: “bring it on!” But they paid more than a billion ($700M in states' case, and a lot to Match Group, which settled just before trial) to isolate @TimSweeneyEpic. 🧵2/3 Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : The settlement endorses Google's 30% monopoly rent imposition, by replacing the anticompetitive Google Play Billing tie with a new anticompetitive Google-imposed “user choice billing” tie which adds a useless 26% Google Tax for payments they don't process. Luther Lowe / @lutherlowe : This is a scandal. Not only was the fine more than an order of magnitude off what it should've been (recall RI AG won $250m settlement with G he didn't divide w/anyone in 2012 by not blinking), it dropped in the middle of the US v G trial as if it were designed to make DOJ &... Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : The State Attorneys General settlement is an injustice to all Android users and developers. It endorses Google's misleading and anticompetitive scare screens, which Google intentionally designed to disadvantage competing stores and direct downloads. Mishaal Rahman / @mishaalrahman : Big news! Google has announced the details of its settlement with the more than 30 U.S. states that filed a class action lawsuit over Google Play. Google says it will: 1) Be “further simplifying the sideloading process and updating the language that informs users about these... [image] Mishaal Rahman / @mishaalrahman : Here's how Google will simplify sideloading in Android. As part of a proposed class action lawsuit settlement, Google said it will revise the default sideloading flow in Android. Here's exactly what they're changing: 1) The pop-up with the text “For your security, your phone currently isn't allowed to install unknown apps from this source. You can change this in Settings” and the “Install unknown apps” screen that lets you enable sideloading from the specified source will be combined into a single screen. [image] Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : The States' earlier filings made a strong case for $10.5 billion in damages, in line with Google's unjustly collected 30% fees. I think they'd have gotten it if they'd stayed in the fight a few weeks longer to the overwhelming victory in court. An unfortunate outcome. Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Here is a very high level description of six key areas of commitments. I STRONGLY URGE you not to take these as actual commitments. Remember this is Google, please assume they've already locked in how to avoid welfare loss to developers and consumers from these terms. /6 [image] Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Bam, state AGs vs Google settlement in app store antitrust case just posted to court docket. Note: states (Utah et al) had settled but couldn't post terms until after Epic vs Google trial in the same matter. That happened last week with jury ruling for Epic against Google. /1 [image] Florian Mueller / @florian4gamers : Very significant with a view to Epic Games v. Google: Google paid $700M (more important than the app store changes that Epic determined fell far short of what's useful) to settle a case that 36 US states and D.C. brought and which would have gone to trial with Epic's case. 🧵1/3 Forums: r/Android : Reaffirming choice and openness on Android and Google Play MacRumors Forums : Google Pays $700 Million to Settle Play Store Antitrust Lawsuit
Context & Ripple Effects
This state-led settlement put Google Play's billing rules and distribution controls under formal pressure, rather than merely contesting the company's broader defense that users choose its services. It also sat alongside, not in place of, Google's separate Epic litigation: the later temporary stay of the Epic remedies showed how court-ordered platform changes could remain contested even as the states' case was resolved.
The episode became part of a wider period in which Google accumulated major legal settlements, including the later accounting of more than $1B in settlements as it fought DOJ cases.
First-order effects
- Google must pay the states' settlement and alter Play policies by offering an alternative billing option and making sideloading simpler.
- Android developers gain a sanctioned route that can reduce reliance on Google Play billing, while Google continues to contest the separate Epic jury verdict.
Second-order effects
- Alternative billing creates pressure on Google to compete for developers on service, integration, and fees rather than relying solely on mandatory Play billing.
- The settlement gives other app-store gatekeepers and their developer communities a concrete U.S. reference point for challenges to platform commissions and distribution restrictions.
Third-order effects
- If similar remedies proliferate, mobile platforms may retain their stores but lose some ability to bundle distribution, payments, and commissions into a single controlled channel.
- The split between a negotiated state settlement and ongoing Epic appeals suggests app-store policy may be shaped through overlapping litigation and settlements rather than one uniform rule.
The trend: App-store antitrust enforcement is moving toward targeted limits on gatekeeper control of billing and distribution while leaving the stores themselves intact.