A consumer class action opened Tuesday at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in
London alleges Google charged Android app developers excessive fees for more
than a decade, inflating Play Store prices and affecting roughly 20 million UK
consumers. Claimants’ lawyers say Google’s 30% commission on digital purchases
breached competition law and that consumers affected since 2015 could be awarded
about £1.2bn (≈$1.6bn) in damages. Lawyers told the court Google used its market
power to extract unfair prices; Google denies any anti-competitive conduct.
