{"id":6388,"date":"2021-07-08T06:15:18","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T06:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1359716"},"modified":"2021-07-08T06:15:18","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T06:15:18","slug":"why-37-us-states-are-taking-google-to-court-over-its-play-store-monopoly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=6388","title":{"rendered":"Why 37 US states are taking Google to court over its Play Store monopoly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A total of 37 US states, including&nbsp;<span>California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, and Washington have launched <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2021\/07\/07\/google-state-lawsuit-android-attorneys-general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">an&nbsp;antitrust lawsuit<\/a> against Google last night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> The case argues that the firm uses its position of power to distribute apps through the Play Store, and charges a hefty cut from app developers. Notably, Google charges 30% fees for in-app purchases from developers \u2014 which is the same as the Apple App Store charges. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In March, the Big G slashed commissions for <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/google-reduces-developer-commission-to-15-on-their-first-million-dollars\">developers earning less than $1 million annually to 15%<\/a>. Notably, after a backlash in India \u2014 Google\u2019s largest market \u2014 last year, it deferred the 30% fees for <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/google-delays-its-30-fee-for-android-developers-in-india-amid-play-store-row\">apps developed in the country until September 2021<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The new lawsuit brings shocking allegations such as Google trying to pay off Samsung to prevent it from developing a competing app store.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/07\/07\/36-states-dc-sue-google-for-alleged-antitrust-violations-in-its-android-app-store-498622\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Politico<\/a> noted that while \u201cGoogle allows other app stores, the search giant has taken steps to ensure that none of them gain traction, the complaint says. For example, it refuses to allow other app stores to be downloaded from its Google Play Store, which comes preinstalled on all Android smartphones. It also refuses to let other app stores buy advertising on its search engine or popular video streaming platform YouTube.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last August, Epic had also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2020\/8\/13\/21368363\/epic-google-fortnite-lawsuit-antitrust-app-play-store-apple-removal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">filed a similar lawsuit<\/a> against the company after it kicked out the popular battle royale game&nbsp;<em>Fortnite<\/em> from the Play Store.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1130622 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-796x416.jpg\" alt=\"Fortnite\" width=\"796\" height=\"416\" sizes=\"(max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-796x416.jpg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-280x146.jpg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-516x270.jpg 516w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-258x135.jpg 258w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop.jpg 1199w\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/37-us-states-google-play-store-anti-trust-case#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fgoogle%2F2021%2F07%2F08%2F37-us-states-google-play-store-anti-trust-case%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Fortnite\" data-title=\"Share Fortnite on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Fortnite on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"><\/i><\/a>Fortnite<\/figcaption><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1130622\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-796x416.jpg\" alt=\"Fortnite\" width=\"796\" height=\"416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-796x416.jpg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-280x146.jpg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-516x270.jpg 516w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop-258x135.jpg 258w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/06\/Fortnite-eShop.jpg 1199w\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>This is not the first time US states have collaborated to fight against Google. In September 2019, 50 states banded together to launch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2019\/sep\/09\/google-antitrust-investigation-monopoly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">investigations into the firm\u2019s monopolistic behavior<\/a>&nbsp;in various businesses such as Search and Android. Last year, 35 states filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/12\/17\/google-antitrust-lawsuit-new-york-colorado-35-states-search\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">the company of anti-competitive practices in search and search ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s wrote a blog post in response to last night\u2019s lawsuit that says the case is strange, as Android is a free operating system that allows multiple app stores to exist:<\/p>\n<div class=\"module--text h-c-page\">\n<div class=\"h-c-grid\">\n<div class=\"uni-paragraph h-c-grid__col h-c-grid__col--8 h-c-grid__col-m--6 h-c-grid__col-l--6 h-c-grid__col--offset-2 h-c-grid__col-m--offset-3 h-c-grid__col-l--offset-3\" data-component=\"uni-article-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"rich-text\" readability=\"33\">\n<blockquote readability=\"9\">\n<p>So it\u2019s strange that a group of state attorneys general chose to file a lawsuit 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\u2019s openness by distributing its Fortnite app outside of Google Play.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"module--text h-c-page\">\n<div class=\"h-c-grid\" readability=\"7.9103641456583\">\n<div class=\"uni-paragraph h-c-grid__col h-c-grid__col--8 h-c-grid__col-m--6 h-c-grid__col-l--6 h-c-grid__col--offset-2 h-c-grid__col-m--offset-3 h-c-grid__col-l--offset-3\" data-component=\"uni-article-paragraph\" readability=\"11.865546218487\">\n<p>The company also said that users are free to sideload apps. Plus, it argued that its commission rates are similar to other app stores on the market. Google lashed out at the lawsuit saying it\u2019s about \u201c<span>boosting a handful of major app developers who want the benefits of Google Play without paying for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rich-text\" readability=\"29.276595744681\">You can read the full text of the lawsuit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/514740841\/State-AGs-vs-Google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/37-us-states-google-play-store-anti-trust-case\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A total of 37 US states, including&nbsp;California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, and Washington have launched an&nbsp;antitrust lawsuit against Google last night. The case argues that the firm uses its position of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}