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NewsBriefs

This article contains excerpts from news stories recently posted under Breaking Industry News on The plaintiff contends these agree-
our homepage. For links to these and other full news stories, please visit www.greensheet.com/ ments stifled competition, prevent-
breakingnews.php. ing cost-effective payment solutions
for consumers and merchants. The
lawsuit is part of a global debate on
competition in mobile payments. In
the United States, Apple recently al-
lowed PayPal and Venmo credit and
debit cards on Apple Pay, possibly
signaling a change in its approach to
payment competition.
Class action bombshell targets card brands, Apple Google agrees to new
app payment options
A liquor store owner in Illinois filed a class-action lawsuit against Mastercard,
Visa and Apple, alleging federal antitrust law violations. The lawsuit, filed in Google reached a settlement with
December 2023, also implicates American Express, Discover, Chase, Citibank, 53 U.S. states and territories, agree-
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Capital One as "conspirators" but not targets. ing to pay $700 million to resolve
It claims these "entrenched networks" engage in anti-competitive practices. allegations of antitrust violations.
The bulk of this sum, $630 million,
The lawsuit argues that Apple could have introduced competition in payment is earmarked for consumers who
card services, potentially saving billions in merchant fees, but Apple, Master- purchased apps through the Google
card, and Visa entered an anti-competitive scheme. Apple agreed not to create app store at inflated prices between
its own payment system, limiting payment methods to cards and restricting August 2016 and September 2023. An
other payment apps on its phones. In return, the complaint alleges, Visa and estimated 102 million Americans will
Mastercard "offered Apple a very large and ongoing cash bribe." The lawsuit receive restitution, with around 70
seeks treble damages for alleged inflated fees paid to Apple. percent of eligible consumers receiv-
ing automatic payments.

As part of the settlement, Google
agreed to implement several busi-
ness practice reforms. These reforms
pertain to payments and payment
processing and include granting de-
velopers the ability to use in-app bill-
ing systems other than Google Play
billing for at least five years. Devel-
opers will also be allowed to offer
lower prices for their apps and in-app
products to consumers who use alter-
native billing systems. Additionally,
developers can advertise cheaper
prices for non-Google billing systems
within their apps for a minimum of
five years.

The lawsuit against Google alleged
various anticompetitive practices,
such as preventing other app stores
from being preloaded onto Android
devices, requiring key app devel-
opers to discourage competing app
stores, creating technological barriers
to hinder direct app downloads, and
mandating the use of the Google bill-
ing system by developers.

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