After losing the antitrust lawsuit against Epic Games earlier this month, Google's parent company Alphabet still needs to solve even bigger problems: Attorney General and consumers from about 36 states in the United States have filed antitrust lawsuits against it, which means Google will have to pay huge compensation and modify its Google Play store rules.
Late Monday Eastern Time, the latest court documents disclosed by the San Francisco court in the United States showed that Alphabet has proposed the latest settlement conditions, is willing to pay $700 million, and adjust its Google Play policy to reduce competitive barriers in the application distribution and payment processing markets.
Google and State Consumer Settlement Agreement Announced
As early as 2021, several state attorneys general in the United States filed lawsuits alleging that Google used anti competitive strategies to prevent competition, leaving app developers with no choice but to acquire users through the Google Play store.
In a class action lawsuit representing nearly 21 million consumers, Google was accused of extracting up to 30% commission from Google Play transactions, indirectly raising the price of Android apps.
In September of this year, Alphabet announced a preliminary settlement with state prosecutors and consumers, but the details of these settlement terms were not disclosed as Alphabet's lawsuit with Epic Games was not yet concluded at the time.
Last week, a federal jury in San Francisco ruled in favor of Epic Games.'s claim that Google Play's app distribution, payment, and fee policies were suspected of monopolies.
And the latest documents disclosed on Monday finally revealed the details of this settlement agreement.
The agreement documents show that 50 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have now joined the settlement agreement.
Google Store rules will undergo significant changes
The settlement agreement shows that Google has established a $630 million mutual fund to pay compensation to consumers who may have paid exorbitant prices when consuming on the Google Play store; Google has also established a $70 million fund to address claims from various states, which will be allocated to each state in the United States and at the disposal of their respective attorneys general.
Google claims that consumers who meet the compensation criteria will receive at least $2 in compensation and may receive additional compensation based on their expenses on Google Play from August 16, 2016 to September 30, 2023.
Google also stated in the settlement agreement that it allows developers of its Play Store app store to provide users with direct payment options. This means that the billions of dollars in revenue generated by the company's sales and distribution of applications through Google Play will be threatened.
Wilson White, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google, stated in a statement:
"This agreement is built on Android's selectivity and flexibility, maintaining strong security protection, retaining Google's ability to compete with other operating system manufacturers, and creating an Android ecosystem for users and developers."