Nebraska Attorney General Hilgers, and a bipartisan group of 52 state attorneys general, have announced a $700 million settlement with Google in their lawsuit about Google’s anticompetitive conduct related to the Google Play Store.
As part of the settlement, Google will pay $630 million in restitution, minus costs and fees, to consumers who made purchases on the Google Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023 and were harmed by Google’s anticompetitive practices. Google will pay the States an additional $70 million in civil penalties.
Nebraska consumers who made purchases on the Play Store do not need to submit a claim to receive money. Instead, consumers will receive automatic payments through PayPal or Venmo, or they can elect to receive a check or ACH transfer. More details about the refund process will be forthcoming.
The state attorneys general sued Google in 2021 alleging that Google unlawfully monopolized the market Android app distribution and in-app payment processing. Specifically, the States claimed that Google signed anticompetitive contracts to prevent other app stores from being preloaded on Android devices, bought off key app developers who might have launched rival app stores, and created technological barriers to deter consumers from directly downloading apps to their devices. The States announced a settlement in principle on September 5, 2023, and today released the finalized terms of the deal.
The settlement requires Google to make several reforms to its business practices.