Match Group Sues Google Over Its App Store Rules | #lovescams | #datingapps

Match Group, which owns dating services like Tinder and OkCupid, sued Google on Monday, claiming that it broke antitrust laws with the rules it set for its smartphone app store.

Google leveraged monopoly power over app distribution for its Android smartphone software to restrict the ability of apps to charge consumers for in-app products using their own payment systems, Match Group said in its lawsuit. Instead, Google is forcing developers to use its system if they want access to the Google Play app store, which takes a cut of in-app purchases, the suit said.

Some of Match Group’s apps currently offer an alternative to Google’s payment systems, but the company says Google will soon require it to use its system.

In a statement, a Google spokesman, Peter Schottenfels, said that like “any business, we charge for our services.” He said Match Group’s apps were eligible to pay a 15 percent commission on in-app purchases and called the rate “the lowest rate among major app platforms.”

“This is 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,” Mr. Schottenfels said.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is the latest salvo in a long-running fight with app developers on one side and Google and Apple on the other. The tech giants largely run the stores through which developers reach smartphone users and have been able to get revenue from purchases inside the apps.

That frustrates the developers, which say Google and Apple are essentially imposing a tax on their sales. The developers have turned to governments around the world to ask that they regulate the practice. Some, including South Korea, have already done so; Congress is considering proposals to do the same.

Both Google and Apple have shifted their practices in recent months to address some of the concerns, including proposing lower commissions on in-app purchases. But developers have said those changes don’t go far enough.