Penalty Amount
$700,000,000
Antitrust enforcement action where Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield secured a $700 million settlement from Google for anticompetitive practices in the Google Play Store. The settlement will provide automatic payouts to consumers who made purchases between August 2016 and September 2023, and requires Google to change its practices to stop the anticompetitive conduct. The settlement is pending court approval as of April 30, 2026.
Google must pay $700 million into a settlement fund for consumer compensation and must implement changes to its anticompetitive practices on the Google Play Store.
In-house legal teams should review all agreements governing digital marketplace operations, particularly vendor contracts with app developers (Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement) and customer-facing terms for in-app purchases. Focus on clauses that mandate exclusive use of Google's payment processing, set fixed commission rates (typically 15-30%), prohibit links to alternative payment methods, or impose tiered pricing restrictions. The settlement requires eliminating anticompetitive conduct, so contracts may need amendments to allow developers to use third-party payment systems, disclose fee structures transparently, and remove provisions that force developers to absorb Google's service fees into consumer prices. Review both current templates and historical agreements from August 2016–September 2023 for compliance with the forthcoming court-approved changes.
Entity
Industry
Technology"Google"
"$700 million"
"anticompetitive conduct"
"Joining Attorney General Rayfield in securing this settlement are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands."
$1.4B
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a $1.375 billion settlement with Google for unlawfully tracking Texans' geolocation data, incognito browsing activity, and biometric identifiers without consent. This is the largest single-state privacy settlement against Google, significantly larger than multistate settlements. The agreement resolves two major privacy enforcement actions brought by Texas.
$1.4B
Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting Texans' private data, including geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data. The case resulted in a $1.375 billion settlement, the largest ever against Google for state privacy enforcement, marking a major win for data privacy rights.
$93.0M
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a $93 million settlement with Google resolving allegations that the company violated state consumer protection laws through deceptive location-privacy practices. Google was accused of falsely telling users that turning off the “Location History” setting would stop location data collection, while continuing to collect and use location data for user profiling and targeted advertising without informed consent. In addition to the monetary penalty, Google must implement several injunctive measures to increase transparency and user control over location tracking.
$391.5M
Google settled with 40 state attorneys general over allegations that it misled consumers about location tracking practices. Google will pay $391.5 million and must enhance transparency and user controls for location data collection.
$391.5M
Connecticut and 39 other states secured a $391.5 million settlement with Google for misleading consumers about location tracking and continuing to collect data after users opted out. The settlement mandates Google to enhance transparency and user controls for location settings, including clear disclosures and user-friendly account controls.
Attorney General William Tong of Connecticut joined a multistate coalition of 37 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Google alleging antitrust violations related to the Google Play Store and Google Billing. The lawsuit claims Google used its dominance to restrict competition, force developers to use Google Billing, and charge high commissions up to 30%. The action seeks to restore competition in the app market and halt Google's anticompetitive practices.