11 months ago
SAN FRANCISCO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta touted a $700 million settlement from Google on Tuesday as an example of how he is putting the tech giant on notice for its allegedly anticompetitive business practices.
Bonta, a Democrat and potential candidate for governor in 2026, has increasingly sought to portray himself as a policeman overseeing Big Tech, one of the state’s most lucrative industries. He said his office wants to send a warning to Google and other “greedy corporations” that they cannot flout antitrust laws.
“When you’re large and you have a lot of leverage and power, I think there’s a lot of temptation to use it to pad your profits, and generate as much revenue as possible,” Bonta told reporters during a news conference at his San Francisco office.
He added, “To all corporations doing business in California, if you use your power to illegally bend the market … we’ll hold you accountable, we’ll see you in court.”
Bonta didn’t lead the multi-state lawsuit over Google’s app store policies on Android devices, a case that was initiated shortly after he took office in 2021. The lawsuit included 36 state attorneys general and was led by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a Republican. It targeted Google for forcing app developers to pay a commission to use its app store.
The settlement is no windfall for Android users — Bonta said it will result in minimum $2 payments for about 102 million people nationwide who’ve used the Google Play Store.
More significantly, Bonta said, the settlement requires Google to change its practices, including by allowing Android users to install apps on their devices from third-party stores outside the Google Play Store.
Google said the deal reflects the company’s efforts to “provide more flexibility and choice” to Android users. Wilson White, the company’s vice president of government affairs, wrote in a blog post that Google is allowing competition in the app store space that “other platforms we compete against simply don’t.”
Bonta’s sharp criticism of Google is part of his yearslong effort to use the attorney general’s office to call out some of the nation’s biggest tech companies — which could be a preview of his gubernatorial talking points. The attorney general has become increasingly critical of tech as the industry’s relationship with the state’s politically powerful labor unions frays. Bonta is a longtime labor ally whose future as an elected official depends on strong union support.
The field is already crowded with Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state schools chief Tony Thurmond and former state Controller Betty Yee in the race. Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins is also considering a run. Candidates and potential contenders like Bonta are looking for ways to distinguish themselves from the pack.
Two months ago, Bonta led three dozen other state attorneys general in suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over allegations it knowingly addicts children and harms their mental health.
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