According to a settlement agreement announced on August 27th, Google has agreed to pay £260 million (approximately 23.7 billion yuan) as part of a settlement in a large-scale lawsuit filed in London against application developers.
The initial valuation of the claim exceeded £1 billion, and the claimant was a developer who sold applications on the Google Play Store in the UK.
This case was led by scholar Barry Roger. His legal team accused Google of abusing its dominant market position, preventing developers from distributing applications through other channels, and charging unreasonable commissions of up to 30%.
The case was originally scheduled to be heard at the Court of Appeal in London next month. This will be the fourth similar case against large tech companies since early 2025. Previously, there have been similar lawsuits against Apple, Qualcomm, and Sony in the UK.
But Roger said on the 27th that he has reached a proposed settlement with Google, which awaits approval by the competitive appellate court. According to the agreement, Google will not admit any liability or wrongdoing.
This 19-page settlement agreement between Roger and Google lawyers states that Google “believes it has strong grounds for defense regarding Professor Roger’s claims.”
Roger said in a statement that this settlement is 'an excellent outcome' for the app developers. He added, 'If approved, those merchants who would have never been able to compete against companies like Google alone will receive meaningful financial compensation.'
According to the agreement, £160 million will be awarded to developers who sell applications on the Play Store between August 2018 and July 2026. Additionally, £100 million will be used to cover the costs of filing and supporting this lawsuit.
In fact, this is not the only major lawsuit that Google is facing. In 2024, a British online content publisher filed a class action lawsuit against Google, accusing it of abusing its dominant market position, favoring its own products and services, and driving competitors out of the market. The lawsuit alleged that these actions had reduced the revenue that publishers earned from sponsored ads, and claimed damages of £1.36 billion (approximately 12.42 billion RMB).
In 2025, Dr. Or Brooke, an expert in competition law, filed a lawsuit on behalf of thousands of British companies against Google for abusing its advertising services. Brooke said in a statement, "Today, British businesses and organizations, regardless of their size, have little choice but to use Google’s advertising to promote their products and services." The amount of damages sought in this class action lawsuit is even as high as 5 billion pounds (approximately 45.66 billion yuan).
