Google to Pay $700M to Settle Google Play Store Antitrust Allegations

Google will pay $630 million in restitution to consumers who made purchases at Google Play between August 2016 and September 2023 to settle allegations it engaged in anticompetitive practices that forced higher prices on the public, according to a settlement agreement filed Monday (docket 3:21-cv-05227) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. Google will also pay $70 million to settle the sovereign claims asserted by the attorneys general of all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said the agreement. Google “disputes the claims” alleged in the litigation, “and believes it has strong defenses to these claims," said the agreement. The settlement isn’t “an admission of wrongdoing, fault, liability, or damage of any kind,” it said. The company also disputes that the plaintiffs’ claims have merit and that the plaintiffs or consumers should be “entitled to any relief,” it said. Google, for a period of at least five years, agrees to give developers that choose to sell in-app digital goods and services “the option to add an alternative in-app billing system alongside Google Play’s billing system” for their users, said the agreement. At checkout, users “will be able to choose which in-app billing system to use,” it said. “No company, no matter how large or powerful, is allowed to corner a market and use its influence to overcharge consumers and smother competition,” said New York AG Letitia James (D) in a statement Tuesday. “For too long, Google abused its market share to unfairly raise prices and block developers from selling products in other app stores,” she said. New York was on the litigation's leadership committee with California, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. “Google took advantage of Android phone customers by limiting consumer choice and capitalizing on commissions for in-app purchases, all while limiting alternative ways to download apps. Google’s anticompetitive behavior hurt consumers by limiting their options, inflating prices on in-app purchases, and creating an unfair marketplace designed to funnel ill-gotten profits back to the company,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D). “Today we are taking an important step to put a stop to this anticompetitive conduct," he said.