US judge slams Google’s $700M Play Store settlement as bad deal for consumers: ‘Matter of basic math’

Published

1 year ago

February 28, 2024

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A federal judge joined critics in questioning Googles controversial $700 million settlement with all 50 US states over anticompetitive Android app store practices pointing out it would only provide small cash payouts to consumers and could protect the company from future lawsuits.

US District Judge James Donato described the Google deal, which would give as little as $2 per eligible user covered in the suit and also included a set of time-limited changes to its app store practices, as a bag of not great for the American public.

It looks to me just as a matter of basic math any single person isnt gonna be getting much, Donato said at a Monday hearing in California federal court, according to Bloomberg.

Donato, who has the final word over whether the proposed $700 million settlement can move forward, also harped on the fact that the agreement would essentially protect Google from facing additional lawsuits over its Play Store practices for seven years.

This seems remarkably broad for the compensation you are proposing to pay for these claims, Donato said.

Additionally, Donato questioned why the deals terms, which first surfaced in December, did not address Googles tactic of charging service fees of up to 30% on major developers within its Play store. The states lawsuit had argued the service fees result in higher prices and less choice for consumers.

Your agreement is telling these 127 million consumers that if they dont like Googles fees they cant sue? Donato reportedly told lawyers for the states.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge gave both Google and the states 30 days to explain why the deal should be approved.

The terms of Googles settlement with all 50 states and millions of US consumers first surfaced in December just days after the company suffered a stunning defeat in a related antitrust case raised by Fortnite maker Epic Games.

As part of the deal, Google contribute $630 million to a settlement fund for consumers who may have overpaid for apps as a result of its Play store practices. The remaining $70 million will go toward covering legal fees and penalties in individual states.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the judge’s remarks and referred to the company’s blog post on the settlement last December.

“We’re pleased to reach an agreement that builds on that foundation and we look forward to making these improvements that will help evolve Android and Google Play for the benefit of millions of developers and billions of people around the world,” the company said at the time.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney was one of the most vocal critics of the settlement describing the terms as an injustice to all Android users and developers and arguing the states could have successfully secured billions in damages had they taken the case to trial.

Donato, the presiding judge in both the Epic Games case and the states case, has been sharply critical of Googles tactics a trend that could haunt the company as both legal battles enter their final stages.

In December, Donato made headlines by publicly blasting Google for what he described as a disturbing effort to destroy key evidence it was ordered to preserve, including employee chat logs, during the Epic Games case.

Donato said he had never seen anything so egregious after viewing disturbing evidence that Google had used an auto-erase feature to delete the internal conversations.

While Google has denied wrongdoing, Donato said the companyswillful and intentional suppression of relevant evidence in this case is deeply troubling to me as an officer of the court.

This conduct is a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice. It undercuts due process. It calls into question just resolution of legal disputes. It is antithetical to our system, the judge added.

Donato said Google would face penalties that would be separate from any final rulings in the Epic case, where the judge is set to determine which business practices Google must discontinue after a jury found it was maintaining an illegal monopoly through its Play Store.

Business

UK economy contracts – with record fall in exports to the US after Trump tariff hikes

Published

51 mins ago

June 12, 2025

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UK economy contracts - with record fall in exports to the US after Trump tariff hikes

The UK economy shrank more than expected in April as the worst of President Trump’s tariffs hit.

The standard measure of economic output (GDP) contracted a sharp 0.3% in April, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

During the month, Mr Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” applied steep tariffs to countries around the world and sparked a trade war with China, the world’s second-largest economy.

The outcome is worse than expected by economists. A contraction of just 0.1% had been forecast by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.

It’s also down from the growth of 0.2% recorded in March.

Blow for Reeves

It’s also bad news for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has made the push for economic growth her number one priority. Speaking to Sky News following the news, she described the figures as “disappointing”.

Additional costs on businesses were also levied during the month, as higher minimum wages and employer national insurance contributions took effect, which businesses told the ONS played a part in their performance.

Why?

The biggest part of the economy, the services sector, contracted by 0.4%, and manufacturing dropped 0.9%.

There was the largest ever monthly fall in goods exported to the United States, the ONS said.

Decreases were seen across most types of goods due to tariffs, it added.

Higher stamp duty depressed house buying and meant legal and real estate firms fared badly in the month.

After a strong showing in the first three months, car manufacturing performed poorly.

Politics

Economy shock overshadows Reeves’ big day

Published

51 mins ago

June 12, 2025

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Economy shock overshadows Reeves' big day

Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy serve up their essential guide to the day in British politics.

Rachel Reeves has said this morning that the latest figures showing the UK economy has shrunk by more than expected are “disappointing”. How much will this overshadow yesterday’s major spending announcement?

The chancellor has now planted Labour’s fiscal flag in the sand – and spending mistakes from here on in certainly cannot be blamed on their predecessors. How will Labour react to a potential internal revolt over disability benefit cuts? And how will the party manage the politics around expected tax rises in the autumn?

Politics

Did ChatGPT get the spending review right? Treasury minister gives his verdict

Published

51 mins ago

June 12, 2025

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Did ChatGPT get the spending review right? Treasury minister gives his verdict

The chief secretary to the Treasury has called the Sky News-Chat GPT spending review projection “pretty good” and scored it 70%.

Darren Jones compared the real spending review, delivered by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday, and the Sky News AI (artificial intelligence) projection last week.

Sky News took the Treasury’s spring statement, past spending reviews, the ‘main estimates’ from the Treasury website, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ projections, and put them into ChatGPT, asking it to calculate the winners and losers in the spending review.

Politics Hub: Tap here for live updates

This was done 10 days ahead of the review – before several departments had agreed their budgets with the Treasury – on the basis of projections based on those public documents. It also comes amid a big debate kicked off by Sky News about the level of error of AI.

The Sky News-AI projection correctly put defence and health as the biggest winners, the Foreign Office as the biggest loser, and identified many departments would lose out in real terms overall.

It suggested the education budget would be smaller than it turned out, but correctly highlighted the challenges for departments like the Home Office and environment.

Watch what happened with Sky’s AI-generated spending review

Reviewing the exercise, the author of the real spending review told Sky News that this pioneering use of AI was “pretty, pretty good”.

He added: “I could be out of a job next time in 2027, which to be honest, it’s not a bad idea given the process I’ve just had to go through.”

The Treasury made a number of accounting changes to so-called “mega projects” which AI could not have anticipated, and changed some of the numbers.

Asked to give it a score, Mr Jones replied: “I’m going to give it 70%.”

The spending review includes AI as a tool to save money in various government processes.

Asked if 70% accuracy is good enough for government, he replied: “Well we’re not using your AI. We’ve got our own AI, which is called HMT GPT, and it helps us pull together all the information across government to be able to make better, evidence-informed decisions.”