EU antitrust regulators quiz developers on payments for Google apps

Author: Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators have asked app developers whether a threat from its Alphabet unit that Google will remove apps from the Play Store if they use other payment options instead of using its own billing system will harm their business, two told Reuters people familiar with this matter.

Critics say the fees Google and Apple charge in their mobile app stores are exorbitant and cost developers a total of billions of dollars a year, a sign of the monopolistic power of both companies.

According to respondents, the surveys were sent to developers last month.

Of the 16 questions included in the document, some concerned the period 2017–2021, others 2019–2021. The European Commission declined to comment. Google did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

The US tech giant has said that apps will be removed from its app store from June this year if developers do not use its billing system.

Respondents were asked whether this year’s Google policy change affected the distribution of their goods and services in the Google Play Store, what apps were affected, and whether it affected their ability to acquire users on Android devices.

Regulators wanted to know whether the change forced developers to abandon other payment options in favor of Google Billing and whether the migration of users to another payment option affected the number of existing users and developers’ access to data.

Developers were asked whether they thought they could offer a better service or product if they had the option to use a different payment system.

The EU competition enforcer also wanted to know whether Google allowed him to use an alternative payment system, charged him a service fee for it, or filed a complaint about the security of his payment method.

The app developers were asked whether digital payments giant Stripe, Dutch payment system Adyen and PayPal unit Braintree were seen as alternative payment systems.

Last month, Google said non-gaming app developers could switch to rival payment systems with a lower fee of 12% instead of 15%, with the move affecting users in Europe to comply with EU rules that come into force next year .

Politico first reported the commission’s inquiry.

(The story corrects company name to Stripe, not Stripes in paragraph 10.)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)