Google doesn't want the Play Store opened up, seeks an emergency stay

Epic sued Google and Apple in separate lawsuits in an attempt to dismantle the monolithic app distribution stores that reside on Android and iOS, respectively. While Epic lost the Apple lawsuit, it did get a favorable ruling in the Google lawsuit. Earlier this month, Google was ordered to make sweeping changes to the Play Store, like allowing third-party stores on it from November onwards. While Google is appealing the decision, it has now also moved a motion for stay over the operative order.

Google has asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the proposed changes to Android and Google Play, pending its appeal of the underlying decision.

Google’s motion of appeal of the original Epic vs. Google order is due to be heard tomorrow. If the Court grants the motion, then Google gets some time to make changes to its platforms. But if the Court denies that motion of appeal, Google will still have to abide by the November deadline, even as company explores other options for appeal. So, the company is not leaving anything to chance, as a motion for stay has also been filed with the Court of Appeals.

In this motion for stay, Google mentions that the Court gave the company just three weeks to make many sweeping changes to the Google Play Store, a “Herculean task creating an unacceptable risk of safety and security failures within the Android ecosystem.”

At the request of a single competitor, Epic Games, the District Court ordered extensive redesigns to Play that will expose 100-million-plus U.S. users of Android devices to substantial new security risks and force fundamental changes to Google’s contractual and business relationships with hundreds of thousands of Google partners.

Google’s motion for stay argues that there’s a lot at stake if the changes go through. For instance, forcing Google to distribute third-party app stores through the Google Play Store will confuse users on whether Google is vouching for those app stores. Allowing rival app stores to offer Google Play Store’s full catalog of apps would also give any bad-intentioned third-party app store a “veneer of legitimacy.”

Google argues that these concerns are amplified by the fact that many of the ordered changes have to be operational by November 1, 2024. Both Android and the Google Play Store are used by millions of users in the US every day, and rushing an update at this scale can lead to “major unintended issues that affect the functionality of devices, the privacy and security interests of millions of users, and the business success of device manufacturers and developers.” Thus, Google argues that the Court should pause these sweeping changes until it has resolved Google’s appeal.