Google used anticompetitive practices in an try to “preemptively quash” Samsung’s Galaxy Store, and forestall it from turning into a viable competitor to its personal Play Store. That’s in line with an antitrust lawsuit filed by a coalition of three dozen state legal professional normal, which accuses Google of illegally trying to manage app distribution on Android. The go well with additionally alleges Google paid off app builders to cease them circumventing its retailer.

The allegations problem certainly one of Google’s core defenses of its insurance policies, which is that not like Apple’s iOS guidelines, Android permits each competing app shops and side-loading apps straight. The lawsuit is successfully claiming that this openness is a facade, as a result of whereas prospects technically have the selection of the place to get their apps from, Google’s enterprise practices have prevented a viable app retailer competitor from rising.

“Google felt deeply threatened when Samsung began to revamp its own app store, the Samsung Galaxy Store,” the go well with says, and describes Google’s strategy to the competing retailer as “a threat it needed to preemptively quash.”

The go well with outlines a variety of techniques Google allegedly used to forestall Samsung’s retailer from turning into a viable competitor. It claims Google used income share agreements with Android cellphone producers that “outright prohibited” pre-installing another app shops, and that it made “a direct attempt to pay Samsung to abandon relationships with top developers and scale back competition through the Samsung Galaxy Store.”

Screenshot: Utah vs Google

As properly as trying to nullify Samsung’s retailer straight, the attorneys normal declare that Google labored with app builders to encourage them to not distribute their apps exterior of the Play Store, successfully paying them off whereas imposing restrictions about how they distribute their apps. In a closely redacted part of the submitting, the AGs argue that a lot of Google’s response got here “as a direct consequence” of Epic Games selecting to distribute Fortnite exterior of the Google Play Store. “To Google, competition in app distribution is a virus to be eliminated,” the go well with says.

Screenshot: Utah vs Google

In a blog post revealed shortly after the go well with was filed, Google’s senior director of public coverage Wilson White referred to as it “a meritless lawsuit that ignores Android’s openness.”

“If you don’t find the app you’re looking for in Google Play, you can choose to download the app from a rival app store or directly from a developer’s website. We don’t impose the same restrictions as other mobile operating systems do,” White wrote, including that producers and carriers have the choice of pre-installing different app shops and that “most” Android gadgets ship with ”two or extra app shops.”

Epic Games made related allegations that Google has tried to quash rival app distribution strategies in its lawsuit in opposition to the search large final 12 months. It claimed Google compelled OnePlus to desert a deal to preload a particular Fortnite launcher on its telephones, and that it prevented LG from pre-installing the Epic Games app on its gadgets.