Fortnite video game maker Epic Games on Monday accused Alphabet’s Google and Samsung, the world’s largest Android phone manufacturer, of conspiring to protect Google’s Play Store from competition. Epic said it would file a lawsuit in US federal court in California. They alleged that a Samsung mobile security feature called Auto Blocker is the problem. The Auto Blocker intends to deter users from downloading apps from sources other than the Play store or Galaxy store.
Epic Games Accuses Samsung, Google of Scheme to Block App Rivals
Samsung and Google are violating US antitrust law by reducing consumer choice. This prevents competition that would make apps less expensive, said US-based Epic. “It’s about unfair competition by misleading users into thinking competitors’ products are inferior to the company’s products themselves,” Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney told reporters.
“Google is pretending to keep the user safe saying one should not install apps from unknown sources. Well, Google knows what Fortnite is as they have distributed it in the past.” Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Samsung said it planned to “vigorously contest Epic Game’s baseless claims.” Epic said Samsung designed it’s Auto Blocker to blunt the impact of a US verdict that Epic won against Google. This was in December 2023 that is expected to force the company to make apps easier to obtain from other sources.
Epic said it will also raise its competition concerns with regulators in the European Union, which has long scrutinized Google’s business practices. Samsung introduced Auto Blocker on its smartphones in late 2023 as an opt-in feature to protect users from downloading apps that may contain malware. Epic said Samsung made Auto Blocker the default setting in July and intentionally made it difficult to disable or bypass.
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