Fortnite video game maker Epic Games Inc yesterday accused Alphabet Inc’s Google and Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s largest Android phone manufacturer, of conspiring to protect Google’s Play Store from competition.
Epic Games said it would file a lawsuit in US federal court in California alleging that a Samsung mobile security feature called Auto Blocker was intended to deter users from downloading apps from sources other than the Play Store or Samsung’s Galaxy Store.
Samsung and Google are contravening US antitrust law by reducing consumer choice and preventing competition that would make apps less expensive, said US-based Epic Games, which is backed by Chinese Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊).
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It’s about unfair competition by misleading users into thinking competitors’ products are inferior to the company’s products themselves,” Epic Games chief executive officer Tim Sweeney told reporters.
“Google is pretending to keep the user safe saying you’re not allowed to install apps from unknown sources. Well, Google knows what Fortnite is, as they have distributed it in the past,” Sweeney said.
Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Samsung said it plans to “vigorously contest Epic Games’ baseless claims.”
Epic Games said Samsung’s Auto Blocker was designed to blunt the impact of a US verdict that it won against Google in December last year that is expected to force the company to make apps easier to obtain from other sources.
Epic Games said it would also raise its competition concerns with regulators in the EU, which has long scrutinized Google’s business practices.
Epic Games had earlier faced off with Google and Apple Inc over their rules of charging up to 30 percent commission on app store payments. After getting banned for about four years, it was available again on iPhones in the EU and worldwide on Google’s Android devices last month.
Samsung introduced Auto Blocker on its smartphones late last year as an opt-in feature to protect users from downloading apps that might 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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