App Store Antitrust Escalates as Aptoide Sues Google Over Android Monopoly Claims

Portuguese app store Aptoide has filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of monopolistic practices. The company alleges that Google is destroying competitors’ businesses by excluding them from Android app distribution and billing systems.

Aptoide claims that due to Google’s “anticompetitive chokehold,” it has been unable to exert pressure on Google regarding pricing and policy decisions. The company describes itself as the world’s third-largest Android app store, with approximately 436,000 apps and 200 million users as of 2024.

According to lawyers, Aptoide alleges that Google restricts competitors’ access to exclusive content from top developers and steers developers toward Google Play and other “essential” services. This, it claims, has caused irreparable damage to Aptoide’s business.

This is not the first time Aptoide has taken legal action against Google. In 2014, it filed a complaint with the European Union antitrust authorities. The current case has been filed in a federal court in San Francisco, seeking unspecified triple damages.

Notably, in November last year, Google agreed to make changes to its Android and app store policies to settle a five-year lawsuit brought by Epic Games, the creator of the popular game Fortnite. In 2023, a jury found Google guilty of illegally suppressing competition, and the following year a judge ordered sweeping reforms.

Additionally, in August 2024, a judge ruled that Google’s search engine also constituted an illegal monopoly, requiring the company to share search data with competitors. Google has appealed that ruling.

Aptoide’s lawsuit represents another example of the growing legal pressure surrounding Google’s app store policies.

DBTech/BMT/OR