If you paid to download an app through the Google Play Store over a lengthy, seven-year period, a slice of a massive $700 million settlement may be coming your way.
But here’s the catch: It could be a very small slice. Like $2.
That, however, is at a minimum.
Consumers could receive more depending on how much they spent at the Google Play Store from roughly August 2016 to September 2023. A settlement website didn’t state the upper limits that consumers could be paid.
The payments are likely to be made after a settlement approval hearing in April. Most people won’t need to do anything to get their cash. It will be automatically transferred to them through PayPal or Venmo using the email or phone number associated with their Google Play account, according to the settlement website.
Google agreed to the settlement after attorneys general from all 50 states claimed that the company used anticompetitive practices. The settlement website notes that the states contended that “consumers paid too much for apps and for purchases made in apps downloaded from the Google Play Store because Google monopolized app distribution on certain Android devices and in-app billing services.”
“This case was never just about app purchases — it was about what happens when a company quietly controls the choices and prices that millions of people rely on every day,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news release Tuesday.
Customers who are eligible for a share of the settlement began receiving notifications in recent days.
More details are available on the settlement’s informational website.
