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Antitrust
Google faces legal action from 37 states over app store practices
The number of legal challenges Google is facing continues to grow as a coalition of attorneys general from 36 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the search giant on Wednesday alleging the company is engaged in anti-competitive behavior and monopolizing the Play Store.
Google is currently facing three other federal antitrust lawsuits, including one from the Justice Department that alleges the company's dominant search engine has allowed it to become a "monopoly gatekeeper" of the internet. But Wednesday's lawsuit is the first to challenge Google's new policy to force all app developers who want to use the Play Store to pay a 30% commission on sales. The new policy from Google will go into effect in September.
"To collect and maintain this extravagant commission, Google has employed anti-competitive tactics to diminish and disincentivize competition in Android app distribution," the lawsuit claims. It adds, "Google has not only targeted potentially competing app stores, but also has ensured that app developers themselves have no reasonable choice but to distribute their apps through the Google Play Store."
