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Match Group files lawsuit against Google

Published: 11:41 10 May 2022 BST

Match Group -

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH), owner of the Tinder dating app, is suing Google over the search giant’s app store platform.

Match filed a lawsuit in California on Monday in which it accused Google of exploiting its control of the Android operating system to limit the ability of application (app) developers to build apps that use alternative in-app payment services to Google’s own platform.

"Ten years ago, Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) was Google's partner. We are now its hostage," Match Group claimed in a press release.

Google countered that the lawsuit was “ just a continuation of Match Group's self-interested campaign to avoid paying for the significant value they receive from the mobile platforms they've built their business on,” the technology web site CNET claimed.

Match’s lawsuit states that more than 90% of Android app downloads are handled through the Google Play store and as such, app developers are practically obliged to be on the platform but in order to be admitted to the platform, the app developers have to comply with certain requirements, one of which is that the apps must not direct users to any other payment system than Google’s.

“They control app distribution on Android devices, and pretend that developers could successfully reach consumers on Android elsewhere," Match Group’s chief executive, Shar Dubey asserted.

"It's like saying, 'you don't have to take the elevator to get to the 60th floor of a building, you can always scale the outside wall'," he added.

Google claims the requirement is to protect users against fraud, a claim that Match appears to regard as disingenuous.

“Google lured app developers to its platform with assurances that we could offer users a choice over how to pay for the services they want but once it monopolised the market for Android app distribution with Google Play by riding the coattails of the most popular app developers, Google sought to ban alternative in-app payment processing services so it could take a cut of nearly every in-app transaction on Android,” Match’s lawsuit contends.

Google and perennial rival both charge between 15% and 30% commission on in-app payments, described by Match as an “extortionate tax” that is nearly ten times higher than the fees charged by other payment processors.

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