Six US states have filed lawsuits against Google's digital monopoly

WASHINGTON: The US system has finally woken up to Google's digital monopoly. Nine U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have filed lawsuits against Google, alleging that search engine giants' control of the Android App Store violates antitrust laws. The case alleges that a series of exclusive contracts and other uncompetitive rituals in the Google Play Store have deprived Google Android device users of aggressive competition, which has led them to better choice and innovation as well as provide a mobile app at extremely low prices.

New York Attorney General James and the Attorney Generals of Utah, North Carolina and Tennessee have jointly accused Google of forcing app developers to sell in-app digital content through the Google Play Store. Thus here Google acts as a billing intermediary. As a result, app consumers have to pay 50 per cent commission to Google indefinitely.

Google has been the gatekeeper of the Internet for many years, but now it has become the gatekeeper of our digital service. As a result, we have to pay more and more for the software we use on a daily basis, ”James alleged.

"Again, we see that Google is using its dominance in the market to eliminate competition and make billions of dollars in profits," he said. The company has lured millions of Android users to Google through illegal rituals and now millions of apps are now downloaded to their phones and tablets by Google alone. The worst thing is that Google is sucking up millions of small businesses that it has not been able to compete with. We are taking this case to end Google's illegal monopoly and give voice to the voices of millions of consumers and business owners.

The lawsuit alleges that in addition to discouraging competition, Google also imposes a technical barrier on third party app developers from providing or distributing apps outside the Google Play Store.