Google to overhaul its Play Store by October 22 after US Supreme Court rejects its appeal in monopoly case

New Delhi:

The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to block a year-old order that requires Google to make a major makeover of its Android app store. This judicial mandate is designed to unleash more competition against Google’s Play Store, which a jury previously declared an illegal monopoly.

This rejection, delivered in a one-sentence decision, means Google must soon begin overhauling the Play Store—the platform for apps running on the Android software that powers most non-Apple smartphones in the US.

The court-ordered changes

Among other requirements, US District Judge James Donato’s October 2023 order mandates that Google must:

• Give competitors access to its entire inventory of Android apps.
• Make those alternative options available for download directly from the Play Store.

Google had argued in a Supreme Court filing last month that Donato's order would expose the Play Store’s more than 100 million US users to "enormous security and safety risks" by allowing app stores stocking malicious or pirated content to proliferate.

The company was facing an October 22 deadline to begin complying with the order. The Mountain View, California, company was seeking a stay while pursuing a final attempt to overturn the December 2023 jury verdict that condemned the Play Store as an abusive monopoly.

Google’s response and ongoing legal fight

In a statement, Google indicated it will submit to the order but continue its legal fight. Google warned, “The changes ordered by the US District Court will jeopardise users' ability to safely download apps”.

Google had previously been insulated from the order while attempting to overturn both the order and the monopoly verdict, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that attempt two months ago. In its filing to the Supreme Court, Google argued it was unfairly being forced to become a supplier and distributor for its would-be rivals.

Judge Donato concluded the digital walls shielding the Play Store needed to be torn down to counteract a pattern of abusive behavior. This conduct allowed Google to reap billions of dollars in annual profits, primarily through its exclusive control over a payment processing system that collected a 15–30 per cent fee on in-app transactions.

The Epic games lawsuit and other antitrust battles

These commissions were the focal point of the 2020 antitrust lawsuit filed by video game maker Epic Games (the maker of Fortnite). The month-long trial in San Francisco federal court culminated in the jury's monopoly verdict against Google.

• Apple Comparison: Epic lost a similar antitrust case targeting Apple's iPhone app store. Though the judge ruled the iPhone app store was not an illegal monopoly, she ordered Apple to allow links to alternative payment systems—a shake-up that resulted in the company being held in civil contempt of court earlier this year.
• Reaction: Epic CEO Tim Sweeney applauded the Supreme Court’s decision, stating it clears the way for consumers to choose alternative app payment choices "without fees, scare screens, and friction”.

Although the Play Store changes will likely affect Google’s profit, the company makes most of its money from its dominant digital ad network and search engine—pillars of an internet empire facing attacks on multiple legal fronts.

Other monopoly cases: As part of cases brought by the US Justice Department, both Google's search engine and parts of its advertising technology have also been declared illegal monopolies.

• Earlier this year, a federal judge rejected the Justice Department's proposed break-up in the search engine case, a decision widely seen as a reprieve for Google.
• The government is now seeking to break up Google in the advertising technology case, with proceedings scheduled to wrap up with closing arguments on November 17 in Alexandria, Virginia.

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