In a lawsuit alleging that its app store charges exorbitant fees, Google now faces more than 21 million customers.
A federal judge on Monday granted class-action status in a suit alleging that Google Play abused its power over the sale and distribution of Android mobile applications, increasing the Alphabet Inc. unit’s damages exposure exponentially.
The consumer dispute is part of a larger antitrust battle involving nearly three dozen state attorneys general, Epic Games Inc., Match Group Inc., and a group of small app developers.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Rie, the actions threaten Google Play’s billions of dollars in revenue.
“We’re evaluating the ruling, and then we’ll weigh our options,” said a Google spokesperson.
The judge-approved class includes Google Play users since August 2016 in 17 U.S. states and territories not represented in the suit filed by state attorneys general in July 2021, according to Karma Giulianelli, an attorney representing consumers, at an August hearing. According to her, the states’ suit covers nearly 70 million consumers.
Consumers claim Google inflates Android app prices by taking a 30% cut of sales on Google Play, with some exceptions. However, in response to Google’s anti-competitive behavior, Giulianelli stated at the hearing that the company would “offer discounts, more subsidies in the form of rewards” to attract users to its marketplace.
Google’s attorney, Justin Raphael, argued that the case should not be handled as a class action because there are too many differences between app transactions to group users together. Raphael stated at the hearing that app prices and cost structures vary.