Dozens of US states sue Google over Play Store's 'extravagant commission'

Over thirty US states have sued Alphabet Inc.'s Google, accusing the search and advertising giant of operating like an illegal monopoly.

The lawsuit, which was filed by 37 state and district attorneys general on Wednesday, alleges that Google abuses the power it has over developers and eliminates competition in how people download and pay for apps on their Google devices.

The lawsuit, one of a series that has been filed against Google in the United States, also accuses the company of violating antitrust law in running its app store for Android phones.

"Google uses anticompetitive barriers and mandates to protect its monopoly power," the attorneys general wrote in the suit, filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

"To collect and maintain this extravagant commission, Google has employed anticompetitive tactics to diminish and disincentivize competition in Android app distribution," the lawsuit stated.

"Google has not only targeted potentially competing app stores, but also has ensured that app developers themselves have no reasonable choice but to distribute their apps through the Google Play Store," it added.

The suit follows complaints from app developers about the management of Google’s Play Store, which is far more widely used than similar products from Amazon.com Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and others.

The lawyers assert that Google Play's market share of apps downloaded on Google devices is over 90%, which suggests, according to suit, that the company "faces no credible threats."

Moreover, Google prohibits competing app stores to be downloaded through its Google Play store, however, rival app stores can be sideloaded onto Google devices, a process the state lawyers call "unnecessarily cumbersome and impractical."

The latest lawsuit comes amid a wave of legal and regulatory challenges rising against Big Tech in recent months.

US lawmakers back Big Tech regulation bills in marathon session

US lawmakers debated into the early hours Thursday over details of legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech firms with a sweeping reform of antitrust laws.

Since last year, prosecutors in the Justice Department or state attorneys general have lodged four suits against Google targeting parts of its business empire accused of being anticompetitive.

The new lawsuit was praised by Meghan DiMuzio, executive director for the Coalition for App Fairness, which represents firms including Match Group Inc. and Spotify Technology SA that are opposed to some of the Play Store rules.

"Anti-competitive policies stifle innovation, inhibit consumer freedom, inflate costs, and limit transparent communication between developers and their customers," DiMuzio said.

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