Aptoide sues Google over Android gatekeeping
Aptoide, a Lisbon‑based Android app store, filed a U.S. lawsuit accusing Google of monopolising Android app distribution and billing, claiming it had more than 200 million annual users by 2024. Coverage frames the complaint as part of a broader wave of antitrust pressure that previously targeted Google's search business and now reaches Android distribution and security features. ( )
Aptoide sued Google in San Francisco on April 14, accusing it of illegally locking up Android app distribution and in-app billing. (reuters.com) The plaintiff is a Lisbon-based company that runs an alternative Android app store and says it had more than 200 million annual users in 2024. Aptoide says Google’s conduct shut smaller rivals out of developers, users, and payments. (reuters.com) The complaint seeks an injunction to stop the alleged practices and asks for treble damages, the triple damages available under United States antitrust law. Reuters reported the case was filed in federal court in San Francisco. (reuters.com) At the center of the case is how Android apps reach users. Aptoide says Google uses control of the Play Store and Google Play billing to steer developers into Google’s system and make rival stores harder to use. (reuters.com, benzinga.com) The lawsuit lands after Epic Games already won a jury verdict against Google on similar Android claims in December 2023. That jury found Google had unlawfully maintained monopolies in Android app distribution and Android in-app billing. (americanbar.org, cravath.com) United States District Judge James Donato then issued a permanent injunction on October 7, 2024, ordering Google to open Play to more competition, including rival app stores and alternative billing options. Google appealed, and the Ninth Circuit later upheld Epic’s trial win while fight over the injunction’s timing continued into 2025. (aljazeera.com, ca9.uscourts.gov, cravath.com) Aptoide’s case adds a new private plaintiff to that pressure campaign. Reuters said the company argues it would have pushed Google harder on price and policy if Google had not kept what Aptoide called an “anticompetitive chokehold” on the market. (reuters.com) Google did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the new suit. In the Epic case, Google argued that forced changes to Play could raise privacy, security, and operational risks for Android users and developers. (reuters.com, lawyer-monthly.com) Aptoide has fought Google before in Europe, where Reuters said it filed an antitrust complaint with European Union authorities in 2014. This time it is asking a United States court to force changes to the Android app business as Google is still defending the structure of Play. (reuters.com) The next step is likely a response from Google and an early court fight over whether Aptoide can turn the Epic precedent into its own damages case. For now, the new filing keeps Google’s Android gatekeeping under antitrust scrutiny on both the courtroom and product side. (reuters.com, cravath.com)
