California on Wednesday joined 35 other states and the District of Columbia to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging the search and cell-phone giant illegally operates a monopoly over its app store.
In a suit filed in federal court in San Francisco, the Attorneys General argued Google employs “anticompetitive tactics,” resulting from its Play Store distributing over 90% of all Android apps and the Google-owned Android mobile operating system being practically the only one that can be licensed to phone manufacturers.
Google charges developers up to 30% of every application purchase to sell them in the Google Play Store on Android devices, as well as 30% of purchases and subscriptions within an app.
"Google has violated the trust of Android phone customers by limiting consumer choice and raking in outrageous commissions on app developers," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Wednesday. "Android customers are effectively stuck using the Google Play Store for apps, where they pay a premium. This anticompetitive behavior also stings consumers by limiting their options."
The suit alleged that Google Play Billing’s 30% fee is "over 10 times" what other payment processors charge to buy non-digital items through an Android application, as well as for all goods generally purchased on the internet. Android evelopers can’t use another payment processor for digital purchases if they want placement in the Google Play Store.
That’s a violation of state and federal law, the complaint alleged.
Google also makes it harder for users to download apps directly from developers or within competing marketplaces, the suit argued. Competing Android app stores account for just 10% of the market, with no single market owning more than 5%.
"A more competitive app marketplace could open innovation, leading to more choice, better payment processing, improved customer service, and enhanced data security," Bonta added.
In a company blog post, Google Senior Director of Public Policy Wilson White said the states' lawsuit is "similarly meritless" to one filed by "Fortnite" developer Epic Games. Epic sued Google last year over its removal from the Google Play Store, the same day it sued Apple for removal from its app store.
White said the suit "conspiculously fails to mention" Google charging similar fees to developers as Apple does on its mobile devices and Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony do on its video-game consoles.
"This lawsuit isn’t about helping the little guy or protecting consumers. It’s about boosting a handful of major app developers who want the benefits of Google Play without paying for it," White wrote, alleging that fewer than 0.1% of developers pay a service fee.
All of those developers are "the largest and most profitable on Google Play," according to White.
This is the second antitrust lawsuit California has joined against the Mountain View tech titans. In December, then-Attorney General Xavier Beccera announced the state would support a complaint over Google’s dominance in online search.
Google currently faces two other antitrust lawsuits, including one led by the U.S. Department of Justice. That suit alleged that Google holds a monopoly over online search advertising.
Last week, a federal judge in Washington dismissed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook that California and over 40 states signed on to. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in his decision that the states had waited too long to file suit.
You can read Wednesday's complaint against Google below.
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