DC, Virginia join Google antitrust lawsuit

WASHINGTON - The District and Virginia have joined a massive antitrust lawsuit targeting Google.

The search giant is one of several large tech firms that have fallen under the scrutiny of the Federal government in recent years over issues ranging from their market domination to allegations of bias.

This time, attorneys general for dozens of states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit targeting Google's Play store, where consumers download apps designed for the Android software that powers most of the world's smartphones.

"Google is using its dominant position in the marketplace to stifle competition and extract billions of dollars in commissions on in-app purchases from unsuspecting consumers—and this anticompetitive behavior must stop. Not only has Google acted unlawfully to block potential rivals from competing with its Google Play Store, it has profited by improperly locking app developers and consumers into its own payment processing system and then charging high fees," said DC Attorney General Karl Racine.

"Google has really become a major player in the tech market, so much so that its products play a role in almost every aspect of Virginians’ daily lives, including their cell phones and the apps that they use on a regular basis," said Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.

The 144-page complaint filed late Wednesday in a Northern California federal court represents the fourth major antitrust lawsuit filed against Google by government agencies across the U.S. since last October.

The lawsuit also comes against a backdrop of proposed laws in Congress tailored to either break up or undermine the power amassed by Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The four have built trillion-dollar empires fueled by the immense popularity of services that people have become increasingly dependent upon.

Much of the latest lawsuit echoes similar allegations that mobile game maker Epic Games made against both Google and Apple, which runs a separate app store exclusively for iPhones, in cases brought last August.

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The complaint contends Google has deployed various tactics and set up anticompetitive barriers to ensure it distributes more than 90% of the apps on Android devices — a market share that the attorneys general argue represents an illegal monopoly. What's more, the lawsuit alleges Google has been abusing that power to reap billions of dollars in profit at the expense of consumers who wind up paying higher prices to subsidize the commissions, and the makers of apps who have less money and incentive to innovate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Virginia Washington, D.C.