Google will pay small US app developers a total of $90 million following settlement
While Google allows other app stores on its Google-powered flavor of Android, it’s clear that the Play Store is the place to be for developers if they want to reach a remotely significant number of people. App developers have long alleged that Google is misusing its power over this significant market, and aclass action lawsuit followed in 2021. Now, a settlement has been reached, withGoogle establishing a $90 million fundto support smaller developers in the US and bringing major changes to the Play Store.
The class action lawsuit was started in 2021 by nearly 48,000 plaintiffs represented by Hagens Berman, a law firm that has achieved a number of victories against Big Tech companies already. Hagens Berman reports that its plaintiffs arebound to receive monetary compensationin the hundreds of thousands of dollars, all the way up to $200,000 for some bigger developers (spotted by Mishaal Rahman). The money will be paid out from Google’s $90 million fund, and almost all developers in the US are eligible. Google says it is paying out the money to developers who “earned two million dollars or less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021,” which appear to be about 99% of developers on the store.
In addition to the monetary dimension, Google has agreed to some major changes to the Play Store to better accommodate smaller developers:
Of course, Google maintains that it hasn’t done anything wrong in the court, but says that this settlement “will avoid protracted and unnecessary litigation with developers, whom we see as vital partners in the Android ecosystem.”
Hagens Berman previously successfully represented a number of developers in a case against Apple’s App Store. It managed to secure a $100 million settlement for iOS developers that made similar claims against Apple. Given its track record, we might see many more similar cases coming to the courts.
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