Google Play to lift app store restrictions

Unfair competition: People taking a photo at a telecom conference in Barcelona, Spain. Under fire from regulators around the world, Google Play rules and fees stifle competition and block app marketplaces launched by developers, Epic argues. — AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Alphabet Inc must lift restrictions that prevent developers from setting up rival marketplaces that compete with its Google Play Store, a judge ruled, upending the search giant’s dominance in the lucrative Android app market.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday handed a big victory to Epic Games Inc in its long-running antitrust challenge to the technology giant’s app store, which brought in US$14.66bil in sales in 2020.