States, Google settle app store antitrust case

Google and attorneys general in 36 states and Washington, D.C., reached a settlement in a long-running antitrust case over the company’s mobile app store policies two months ahead of what has been expected to be a lengthy trial.

In a short court filing Tuesday night, Google and the Utah Attorney General’s office, which is leading the group of states and counsel for a group of consumers, said they reached an “agreement in principle” to settle the case, which has a trial date of Nov. 6.f

The settlement comes as Google is bracing for multiple antitrust showdowns over the next year. It comes a week before the company is set to go to trial against the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general led by Colorado and Nebraska in a separate antitrust case over the company’s dominant role in online search. A trial in yet another antitrust case against the DOJ and a smaller group of states over its advertising business is expected to start in the Spring.

The settlement terms in the app store case were not disclosed, and the agreement is subject to approval by the state attorneys general and the board of directors of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. A detailed settlement agreement will be submitted in about a month, according to the filing on Tuesday.

The lawsuit challenging Google’s control over its Android app store was first filed in July 2021. The case is challenging the search giant’s policies to force all app developers who use its Google Play Store to pay a 30 percent commission on sales of digital goods or services.

Video game maker Epic Games and online dating company Match Group are also suing Google over the same allegations and are still currently set to go to trial in November. A spokesperson for Match declined to comment on the settlement. In a series of posts on X, the social media service formerly known as Twitter, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said his company is not a party to the settlement, but "If Google is ending its payments monopoly without imposing a Google Tax on third party transactions, we'll settle and be Google's friend in their new era."

Epic is also locked in a similar legal battle against Apple over that company’s mobile app store policies. It largely lost a 2021 trial and subsequent appeal, and is currently petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its case. While Epic and the other plaintiffs criticize Google’s app store policies, the company still allows rival app stores on its phones. Apple by contrast allows no competition on its devices.

Last year, Google settled similar claims with a group of app developers, agreeing to pay $90 million and make it easier for companies to tell their customers about lower prices outside of their apps.

A motion by Google to throw out much of Epic and Match’s case is pending before U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco.