On 7 July 2021, 36 US State Attorneys General, led by Utah, North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, and Nebraska, filed an antitrust claim against Google in the US Courts.
The claim is focused on Google’s control of the Play Store, an app store on Android devices, including the requirement that all developers using the Play Store will pay Google 30% commission on app purchases and in-app sales.
The complaint can be found here.
Google and other “Big Tech” companies have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.
Google’s control of the Play Store is already the focus of a lawsuit filed in the US by Epic Games and a similar claim filed in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal by Epic Games. Meanwhile, control over the app store on Apple iOS devices, and the taking a cut of up to 30% from payments made for apps and within apps by Apple, is being scrutinised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority and by the European Commission, following complaints from Spotify, Rakuten, and others.
It also follows a series of cases launched against Google in late 2020 by the US Department of Justice, a group of State Attorneys General led by Colorado, and a group of States Attorneys General led by Texas, as well as a CMA investigation into Google’s “Privacy Sandbox” and proposed market study looking at the mobile ecosystems of Apple and Google.
If you have any questions about the complaint, or any other ongoing cases against Google or “Big Tech”, please contact Tim Cowen.