Google must pay $700 million over anticompetitive practices

All U.S. attorneys general have secured a $700 million agreement with Google over anticompetitive conduct with its Google Play Store. 

AUSTIN (KXAN) – All U.S. attorneys general have secured a $700 million agreement with Google over anticompetitive conduct with its Google Play Store. 

Google has to pay $630 million in restitution to users who were “harmed” by Google’s anticompetitive practices and made a purchase in the Google Play Store between Aug. 2016 and Sept. 2023. Further, Google must pay the states $70 million in penalties and adopt better business practices to reduce the tech behemoth’s “unfair marketplace power over other companies and consumers,” according to a press release from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“Texas has led the nation in the fight to hold giant tech companies accountable for monopolistic activity,” Paxton said. “I am proud that this settlement brought together so many states who recognized the importance of protecting free markets.”

The lawsuit started in 2021 when the coalition of attorneys general sued Google for “unlawfully monopolizing the market of Android app distribution and in-app payment processing.” 

The attorneys general said that Google signed anticompetitive contracts to block other app stares from automatically uploading to Android devices, paid application developers not to launch products on app stores, and created barriers to deter consumers from directly downloading apps to devices, according to the press release.