In a judgement that surprised some following the matter, a jury found in favor of Epic and the the attorneys general from 36 states and the District of Columbia and AGAINST Google regarding anti-trust violations with its Google Play app store. At the heart of the case was Google's previous policy on its Play Store with required most app developers to use Google’s billing and revenue sharing system, which took a 30% cut from all transactions whether they be the initial install and purchase of a game or in-app purchases, a policy Apple also maintains with its app ecosystem. When Epic implemented an in-app payment system that circumvented this threshold in Fortnite, Google and Apple promptly banned the game, which triggered Epic's lawsuits of both companies. While Epic lost its case against Apple, this month it was announced that they won their case against Google and the payout will draw approximately $700M, an amount that matches the revenue Google makes from its app store in about twenty days. ~$630M of that amount will go to consumers and the individual payouts will be determined later. $70M will go to compensate the AGs that took up the case and 1M will go towards administration costs that Google must now cover.

It is important to note that while Epic has been reported as the main instigator of this lawsuit against Google, following the initial 2021 filing for a case, every single attorney general in the 50 states of the United States of America joined the case to support Epic, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The legal counsel and resources that those attorney generals provided is widely regarded as being crucial to the case.

As per The Verge, the non-monetary stipulations for Google upon losing the case are:

For 7 years, Google will “continue to technically enable Android to allow the installation of third-party apps on Mobile Devices through means other than Google Play”

For 5 years, Google will let developers offer an alternative in-app billing system next to Google Play (aka “User Choice Billing”)

For 5 years, Google won’t make developers offer their best prices to customers who pick Google Play and Google Play Billing

For 4 years, Google won’t make developers ship titles on Google Play at the same time as other stores and with feature parity

For 5 years, Google won’t make companies exclusively put Google Play on a phone or its homescreen

For 4 years, Google won’t stop OEMs from granting installer rights to preloaded apps

For 5 years, Google won’t require its “consent” before an OEM preloads a third-party app store

For 4 years, Google will let third-party app stores update apps without requiring user approval

For 4 years, Google will let sideloaded app stores use its APIs and “feature splits” to help install apps

For 5 years, Google will turn its two sideloading “scare screens” into a single user prompt which will read the equivalent of this agreed-upon language: “Your phone currently isn’t configured to install apps from this source. Granting this source permission to install apps could place your phone and data at risk.”

For 5 years, Google will let User Choice Billing participating developers let their users know about better pricing elsewhere and “complete transactions using the developer’s existing web-based billing solution in an embedded webview within its app.”

For 6 years, Google will “continue to allow developers to use contact information obtained outside the app or in-app (with User consent) to communicate with Users out-of-app”

For 6 years, Google will let consumption only apps (e.g. Netflix, which doesn’t let you pay on device) tell users about better prices elsewhere, without linking to an outside website — example: “Available on our website for $9.99”

For 6 years, Google “shall not prohibit developers from disclosing to Users any service or other fees associated with the Google Play or Google Play’s billing system.”

As mentioned earlier, Epic attempted a similar lawsuit against Apple and they were not so lucky, which is why the decision to side against Google came as a slight surprise to some. However, as The Guardian summarized fairly well, there were some major differences between the two cases. First, Google's anti-trust case was hear over a jury whereas Apple's case was presided over by a judge. It is believed by some that Epic's strategy of playing up their status as the "underdog" may have worked in part. Second, the Apple case was widely viewed as far more difficult for Epic to win considering Apple has always utilized a closed-off app ecosystem and OS. As one lawyer put it, “In the Apple case, it’s simply that Apple only has one App Store and won’t allow any others”and that because Apple has always relied on sealed-off ecosystems, especially when it comes to its core operating system, that means Apple really has no “duty to deal” with others. Third, Google looked TERRIBLE in their trial. Throughout the case, Google was called out by the prosecution and even the presiding judge for not being able to find documents and they frequently claimed that emails that were being requested during the "Discovery Phase" had been mysteriously deleted. What internal documents they did cough up, made the case against them play into the archetype that they were a monolithic tech giant trying to extinguish competition. Reportedly, one email from a Google executives referred to Epic as a "worrisome contagion" that they thought could inspire other third parties to find creative ways to work around their 30% fee.

All this means Google is set to pay $700 million for violating anti-trust laws and $630 million of that is set to be distributed to approximately 102 million consumers. If you have ever used a Chromebook, Android-based phone, or bought something on the Google Play Store, you are likely an eligible consumer that could see a payout, though, the payout is certainly bound to be small. As is usually the case, do NOT rely on anyone advertising ways to maximize your payout online or people who may call you on the phone about your payout.

In a statement issued to the public, Google announced that they would follow the terms of the trial for now, but that they fully intend to appeal. Google is also in the midst of two other massive anti-trust lawsuits. One seeks to declare Google a monopoly in violation of US anti-trust laws in the search engine market and the other seeks to declare Google's dominance in the digital advertising market as a monopoly in violation of US anti-trust laws.

Good. Google has been overstepping their boundaries for years now and it's long past time that they be reined in. Every time documents from their current set of executives leak it's obvious that they are comically evil and staunchly anti-competitive in a similar vein to Facebook. They aren't the Google of 15-20 years ago anymore and haven't been for years now. They have been literally copying the 90s Microsoft playbook of brute-forcing their product to be the default then trying to block any and all competition. They've done this in almost every area they compete it be it in the web browser, video, advertising, search engine, or other spaces.

Between this case and the various other Google cases and document leaks that have happened recently, it's clear that Google isn't even trying anymore to hide that they're aggressively anti-competitive. They looked awful in this case because that's the reality of them now. The "Don't Be Evil" people are long gone and the people in charge now are largely the tech true believers who act like they live on a different planet than the rest of us and have no qualms about making decisions that most semi-informed people would qualify as pretty gross.