Google faces £1.2 billion UK lawsuit over anti-competitive Play Store fees

The outcome of this £1.2 billion case could force a fundamental shift in how streaming services manage in-app billing and customer acquisition costs on Android. If the tribunal finds the 30% commission unlawful, it sets a precedent for developers to bypass platform taxes, potentially lowering retail prices for SVOD and TVOD services. This litigation mirrors ongoing pressure from Epic Games and EU regulators, signaling a global erosion of the walled-garden payment model. Watch for the UK Court of Appeal ruling on the related Apple commission case next year to gauge the tribunal's long-term stance on mobile duopolies.

Google's Play Store fee structure has faced sustained legal pressure from multiple directions since Epic Games filed its landmark antitrust suit in 2020. In December 2023, a US federal jury found that Google's Play Store operated as an illegal monopoly and ordered the company to open the store to rival app marketplaces and alternative payment systems for three years. The ruling, which Google has appealed, established that the 30% commission and the store's distribution restrictions violated US antitrust law, setting a template that the UK claimants are now following with their own class action.

The UK case arrives amid broader regulatory convergence on app store economics. The European Union's Digital Markets Act, which took full effect in March 2024, requires gatekeepers including Google to allow third-party app stores and alternative payment methods on their platforms, with non-compliance fines reaching up to 10% of global revenue. Google responded by introducing alternative billing options in the European Economic Area, though developers have argued the revised terms still impose fees that discourage sideloading. Apple faces parallel scrutiny under the same regulation, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority has separately designated both companies as strategic market status holders under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which received Royal Assent in May 2024.

Epic Games, which initiated the original US challenge against both Google and Apple, has continued to push for structural remedies beyond individual lawsuits. In January 2025, Epic launched third-party mobile games on its store on Android worldwide and iOS in the EU, offering to cover Apple's Core Technology Fee for participating developers while the European Commission investigates Apple's DMA compliance. The move directly tests whether alternative marketplaces can attract users when platform fees are reduced, and Telefónica agreed in December 2024 to preinstall the Epic Games Store on millions of Android devices across the UK, Germany, Spain, and Latin America, marking the first carrier-level preinstall deal for a third-party Android store and representing a concrete challenge to Google's Play Store distribution dominance.