Wahab Khan 
Match Group is a known company for popular dating apps like OkCupid, Match, and Tinder. The company has decided to file a court case against Google over Android’s in-app payments. In the draft of Match Group’s legal complaint, Match Group says Google has unlawfully monopolized the online marketplace for app distribution on Android by persuading apps to employ Google’s billing system for the payment. It also has started taking a share of the sales from the apps.
The current lawsuit against Google pays off the complaint filed by Epic Games against Apple, the giant tech company, in 2020. It alleged Apple for engaging in an anti-competitive attitude by asking for a 30% commission on app purchases from the iOS app store amid other expenses.
While Epic Games’ complaint got a mixed final ruling, Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers said Apple had the right to license its intellectual assets with a fee. He seemed skeptical of the payment monopoly complaints, saying the tech giant uses a simple approach to achieve its goal with its payment system.
According to Google, the company always wanted certain in-apps to pay through its billing service. It started in 2020 when Google required every app offering digital products to use its billing system to allow the company to collect a 30% commission. The company slashed that percentage to 15% for the first $1million in developer goods in March last year. Later, Google did the same for music subscription and streaming apps in October 2021. Match Group accuses Google of using bait and switch tactics to mystify app developers about its payment guidelines.
Match Group mentioned in the claim that Google tempted app developers by giving assurances that it could allow users to choose payment methods for their desired services. But, it rode the coattails of the popular app developers to monopolize the market for app distribution with Android Google Play. It further asserts that Google wanted to ban alternative payment services to take a share of almost all in-app transactions on Android.
According to Match Group, Google desires to enforce a so-called tax on the android app from consumers’ pockets in the form of high prices and the money that app developers can make by selling their digital products or services. It also says Google takes advantage of monopolizing the market for the in-app payment processing system because it enables the company to use credit card information and recognizes that it can employ it in its best interest.
Match Group aims to fight policies it considers not competitive, such as Google and Apple’s rule that bans developers from using third-party payment systems. Earlier this year, Google announced that it would start evaluating ways for android developers to pay through their preferred payment processing system, starting with Spotify. On the other hand, it is vague whether or not Google will charge a commission from those app sales. The percentage of the potential commission is also unclear if the company decides to take a cut from the sales.
