Google faces new multi-state antitrust lawsuit over Play Store abuses

US lawsuit alleges that Google is unlawfully forcing app developers to go through the Google Play Store to reach users

A bipartisan coalition of US state attorneys general on Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of abusing its control of the Android app store to thwart competition and force consumers into in-app payments.

The lawsuit alleges that Google is unlawfully forcing app developers to go through the Google Play Store to reach users and pay an "extravagant" 30 per cent commission on app purchases. It also accused Google of using "misleading" security warnings to keep developers and consumers within Play Store.

The lawsuit, which represents 36 US states and Washington, DC, was filed in California federal court.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is co-leading the challenge, alongside the North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah attorneys general.

Google recently expanded its Play Store fees to cover more digital goods purchased through the store. The move took particular aim at many popular apps that had earlier managed to evade the fee.

In a statement, Letitia James said that Google has ensured through its illegal conduct that millions of Android users have no other choice but to turn to Play Store for all the apps they may choose to download to their device.

"Worse yet, Google is squeezing the lifeblood out of millions of small businesses that are only seeking to compete," she added.

Ms James accused Google of becoming "the gatekeeper" of digital devices, causing customers to pay more for the software they use every day.

The lawsuit seeks to stop Google's deceptive and unfair practices and make structural changes to prevent the company's unlawful conduct. The changes could include a ban on contracts that force developers to use Google Play Store or event require the company to sell Play Store.

The lawsuit also asks the court to order Google to pay civil penalties, restitution, and other remedies, as the court may deem appropriate.

Responding to multi-state lawsuit, Wilson White, Google's senior director of public policy, stated in a blog post that it was surprising to see multi-state coalition attacking a system "that provides more openness and choice than others".

"This complaint mimics a similarly meritless lawsuit filed by the large app developer Epic Games, which has benefitted from Android's openness by distributing its Fortnite app outside of Google Play," he added.

Wilson argued that Google doesn't impose the same restraints as other mobile OS do.

In August, Fortnite developer Epic Games sued Google and Apple over antitrust claims, after the two firms removed the developer's popular Fortnite game from their app stores.

The clash started after Epic Games announced a direct payment plan for Fortnite users, offering them a 20 per cent discount to the Apple price for in-app purchases.

Introducing a direct payment plan meant Epic was trying to bypass Apple and Google. Both companies criticised Epic for breaching their guidelines and announced they would be dropping Fortnite from their app stores.

In its lawsuit, Epic said that it was not seeking monetary compensation but wanted a ruling that would change the way tech giants run their app stores.

Earlier in October, the USA's Department of Justice (DoJ) also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company uses anticompetitive search and advertising practices that violate federal antitrust laws.

In December, 38 states also filed a bipartisan lawsuit, accusing the company of maintaining a monopoly in search and search advertising.

And the new antitrust lawsuit against Google comes more than a week after a federal judge in Washington dismissed two antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, where the US Federal Trade Commission and 48 states had sought to force the company to divest itself of WhatsApp and Instagram.

The court ruled that the FTC lawsuit was "legally insufficient" and the regulator had failed to provide enough evidence that the Facebook was engaged in unlawful monopolisation.

The court, however, gave the FTC 30 days to file an amended complaint.