A US judge on Monday ordered Alphabet’s Google to restructure its mobile apps business to give Android users more options to download apps and pay for transactions between them, following a judge’s ruling last year. Fortnite maker Epic Games.
The order by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco outlined changes Google must make to open up its lucrative app store, Play, to greater competition, including making Android apps available from rival sources.
Donato’s order said that for three years Google cannot prevent the use of in-app payment methods and must allow users to download third-party Android app platforms or stores.
The order prevents Google from making payments to device makers to pre-install its app store and sharing revenue generated from the Google Play Store with other app distributors.
Google and Epic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bullion stocks fell 2.2% following the decision. Donato said Epic and Google should establish a three-person technical committee to implement and monitor the order. Epic and Google each get a pick, and those two members will pick a third party.
Google said it plans to appeal the ruling that led to the ban, and may ask the 9th US Circuit Court in San Francisco to temporarily suspend Donato’s order pending an appeal.
Donato said his order will take effect on Nov. 1, which he said would give Google time to “bring its current agreements and practices into line.”
Epic’s lawsuit, filed in 2020, accused Google of controlling how consumers access apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions.
The Cary, North Carolina-based company lobbied a judge in December 2023 to bar Google from unfair competition through its control over app distribution and payments, paving the way for Donato’s lawsuit.
Google had urged Donato to reject Epic’s proposed changes, saying they were too expensive, too restrictive and would harm consumer privacy and security. A judge largely dismissed those claims during the August hearing.
“You’re going to end up paying something to make the world right after you’re found guilty,” he told Google’s lawyers.
In a separate antitrust case in Washington, US District Judge Amit Mehta on August 5 ruled against the US Department of Justice and said that Google illegally hijacked web searches, spending billions to become the Internet’s default search engine.
Google also began a trial in September in Virginia federal court in a Justice Department case over its dominance of the ad technology market.
Google has denied the claims in all three cases.
— Mike Scarcella, Reuters
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