Judge Rules Google Play Store Must Change Policies in US

A federal judge ruled Monday (Oct. 7) that Google must make several changes to policies that discourage competition with its Google Play Store.

For a three-year period beginning Nov. 1, the ruling will bar the company from paying developers to exclusively use its app store, bar it from prohibiting developers to tell customers how to download the app directly, stop it from forcing developers to use its billing features, and require it to let rival app stores have access to its catalog, Bloomberg reported Monday.

This ruling by U.S. District Judge James Donato came in an antitrust case brought by Epic Games and followed a jury’s finding that the Google Play Store policies marked an abuse of power by Google, according to the report.

Epic Games Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a Monday post on X that Epic’s victory in the lawsuit means that the Epic Games Store and other app stores will come to the Google Play Store in 2025 in the U.S., “without Google’s scare screens and Google’s 30% app tax.”

Sweeney added in another post on X that because the ruling applies only to the U.S., Epic Games will continue its legal and regulatory battle in other countries.

“The Google Play Store injunction lasts for 3 years,” Sweeney said in a third post on X. “This means all app developers, store makers, carriers, and manufacturers have 3 years to build a vibrant and competitive Android ecosystem with such critical mass that Google can’t stop it.”

Google said in a Monday blog post that it will appeal the verdict and ask the courts to pause the implementation of these remedies, pending the appeal.

“As we have already stated, these changes would put consumers’ privacy and security at risk, make it harder for developers to promote their apps, and reduce competition on devices,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president, regulatory affairs at Google, said in the post.

Mulholland added that Google faces competition from Apple for both consumers and app developers, and that Google Play is not the only way from consumers to get apps, because Android is an open platform.

“Android has helped expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps,” Mulholland said. “The initial decision and today’s Epic-requested changes put that at risk and undercut Android’s ability to compete with Apple’s iOS.”

The antitrust jury trial kicked off in November 2023, with reports at the time saying that it could reshape the Android app store landscape.