Court confirmed Google’s monopoly in the Android app store

• The court confirmed that Google is a monopolist in the Play Store.
• Epic Games achieved an important victory in the antitrust case.
• Google is facing new financial challenges due to court rulings.

In San Francisco, September 1, 2025, the federal appeals court upheld a unanimous ruling that confirms the jury's verdict that Google's app store for Android is an illegal monopoly. This ruling opens the way for courts to implement changes that will give consumers more choices.

This verdict is another blow to Google, which has already faced setbacks in three antitrust cases that highlight various elements of its internet monopoly as of late 2023. It is noted that this ruling is a significant victory for Epic Games, which has been engaged in a legal battle against Google and Apple for almost five years, seeking to bypass exclusive payment processing systems that take 15-30% commission from transactions in apps.

In June 2023, the jury found that Google had tailored its system to promote better conditions for consumers against alternative app stores. The U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered Google to dismantle digital barriers that protected the Play Store from competition. However, Google attempted to challenge this ruling.

A panel of three judges that reviewed Google's appeal dismissed the company's lawyers' arguments that Judge Donato's ruling allowed the case to be reviewed by a jury, which did not adhere to the defined market, to which another federal judge referred.

The judges indicated that Epic's lawsuit provided sufficient evidence that Google's anticompetitive behavior solidified its dominance, which contributed to profits for the Play Store from market effects. If Google fails to continue adhering to the court's ruling, the company will start to implement reforms that include opening its library to more than 2 million apps for competitors.

Epic asserts that Google's retention of increased risks of confidentiality and security is an attempt to mislead consumers, in order to protect the profits of its parent company Alphabet Inc.

In addition, Google is facing new challenges that could significantly impact its financial indicators. The federal court is reviewing the proposal from the U.S. Department of Justice, which anticipates the sale of the Chrome browser and the ban on contracts that lock in Google's search system as the main access point to the Internet.

Tags: USA/Technology