A mass legal claim against Google’s 30% Play Store fee launched in the UK

Google currently has an ongoing lawsuit with 37 US states, and now BBC reports Google has got another issue on its head. This time, it is a lawsuit on behalf of users, not antitrust organizations. Notably, a lawsuit on behalf of 19.5 million UK Android phone users have been filed, seeking damages of up to £920 million for unfair and excess 30% fee Google takes on purchases from the Play Store.

A similar case launched on behalf of iPhone users in May because of Google’s allegedly excessive Play Store cut

Google has stated that it competed fairly and that its fees were comparable to its competitors. However, the UK legal action alleges that Google broke European and UK competition laws with that 30% cut and is overcharging millions of app users who are making purchases from the Play Store. The second allegation is that because the Play Store is bundled with other products, such as smartphones, consumers have little alternative. The claim was filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) by former Citizens Advice lead consumer-policy Liz Coll. It is a case similar to US class-action lawsuits. In such a case, all affected people are automatically covered unless they want to exclude themselves from the lawsuit.

Recently, Google cut its service charge to 15% for developers earning less than £1 million, so the developers of the most profitable apps will be paying the 30% fee.

Both Apple and Google have come under scrutiny for the 30% fee they both take from developers on purchases made on their respective platforms.