Google loses in the Epic antitrust case and will be forced to relax restrictions on its app store

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, lost a ruling in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, which required Google to modify its app store policies. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday, upholding the lower court's order. This ruling means that Google will have to relax the restrictions on the Google Play Store, allowing app developers to establish competitive markets and use alternative billing systems. A previous court ruling had already limited Google, but the enforcement of that ruling was stayed due to Google's appeal. Judge Margaret McKeown wrote on behalf of the panel of judges: Antitrust remedies can and often must prohibit certain otherwise lawful conduct to correct and prevent anticompetitive behavior. The district court has the authority to require Google to make adjustments to benefit the parties harmed by its anticompetitive conduct, including its competitors. Google stated that this ruling would "seriously harm user safety" and undermine the innovation capabilities of the Android platform. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Google, stated, "Our top priority remains to protect the safety of users and developers and to ensure the security of the platform during the ongoing appeal." Epic has not yet responded to this ruling. In December 2023, a jury supported Epic's allegations, finding that Alphabet implemented restrictive policies and anticompetitive behavior by paying mobile manufacturers and popular app developers to only allow them to use the Google Play Store. Following the ruling, U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco ruled that Google must make more concessions to its competitors. Google's lawyers argued in the appeal that Judge Donato should reference the 2021 ruling in which Apple won a similar case. The antitrust battle between Google and Epic comes as Google faces increasing scrutiny from regulators worldwide regarding its business practices. Alphabet, Google's parent company, saw its stock drop over 2% during trading, underperforming the broader U.S. stock market that day