Google faces fresh antitrust suit from states reportedly focused on Play Store

Attorneys general in 36 states and the District of Columbia team up for latest lawsuit targeting Alphabet

37 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.'s Google on Wednesday, which is believed to allege Play Store abuse.

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Attorneys general in 36 states and the District of Columbia sued Alphabet Inc.’s Google late Wednesday, claiming violations of antitrust law.

The lawsuit, first reported by Bloomberg News, is likely to build on complaints from app developers about how Google uses its app store, known as the Play Store, on Android mobile devices. Epic Games Inc., which took Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.80% to court for how the iPhone maker runs its app store, also sued Google GOOGL, +0.23% GOOG, +0.24% in federal court in Northern California last year, accusing it of imposing anticompetitive app store rules. That suit is expected to go to trial in 2022.

A decision in the Epic-Apple case is expected this summer.

The newest complaint would reportedly center on Google’s requirement that some apps use the company’s payment tools to sell subscriptions and content and pay Google as much as 30% of sales. This has led app makers Spotify Technology SA  SPOT, -1.70%  and Match Group Inc.  MTCH, -2.20% to accuse Google and Apple of being anticompetitive in demanding mandatory revenue sharing.

Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google already faces a raft of antitrust litigation: A federal lawsuit brought by the Justice Department last year and two related antitrust cases from separate groups of attorneys general. One is focused on Google’s alleged efforts to extend its dominance in search to newer markets like voice assistants; the other is looking into advertising.

Check back for more on this breaking news.

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