Internet giant Google has to grapple with another antitrust lawsuit in the United States.
36 states and the administrative district of Washington DC filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (local time) for antitrust violations in the business with apps for Android phones.
That emerges from the complaint filed in a federal court in San Francisco.
The company did not initially provide a statement.
"Once again we see Google taking advantage of its dominance to suppress competition in a prohibited way," said New York Attorney General Letitia James. "We are filing this lawsuit to end Google's illegal monopoly power and finally give millions of consumers and businesses a voice." James leads the alliance of plaintiffs along with attorneys general from Utah, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
Specifically, the new procedure revolves around antitrust violations in business with apps for the so-called Play Store of Google's Android smartphone operating system. The lawsuit accuses the Alphabet subsidiary of abusing its market power to impede competition. This leads to higher prices, less choice and a lack of innovation for users. It is also about the amount of fees that Google charges app developers.
It is just one of a series of US antitrust proceedings that have opened against Google in the past few months. In 2020, numerous states filed lawsuits alleging that the company had illegal monopoly positions in search engine and online advertising. Only last August a dispute broke out between the “Fortnite” developer Epic Games and the iPhone manufacturer Apple over app store fees.