There has been news that Google Play app store abuses it market power. In this regard, Alphabet Inc, the parent company has proposed a $700 million settlement with states and consumers to resolve these claims.
However, at a hearing on Tuesday, US District Judge James Donato seemed skeptical of this settlement. He said that the accord seems to be giving short-shrift to consumers in its overall compensation as well as the broad release it gives the company through future lawsuits, Business Standard reported.
“Right now I’m not saying it’s a bag of nothing, but it’s a bag of not great,” Donato said.
The aforementioned deal was first disclosed in December 2023 and would even solve the antitrust complaints that Google is facing. Apart from the monetary compensation, there will also be changes to policies of the Play Store as per the agreement. This will reduce barriers for competition for app distribution and payments. However, Google will continue to collect service fees which is a substantial amount. Hence, the criticism.
The lawsuit challenges billions of dollars in revenue that is generated by the sale and distribution of apps via the Google Play app store.
Donato also said that he didn’t see any point addressing the service fee charged by the app store in the agreement.
Donato has given both sides a period of 30 days to point out and convince him why the settlement is fair and reasonable.