Epic Games sues Google again: What are the allegations and how is Samsung involved?

“Auto Blocker cements the Google Play Store as the only viable way to get apps on Samsung devices, blocking every other store from competing on a level playing field,” it added.

What is Auto Blocker?

The Auto Blocker option on Samsung smartphones stops users from downloading apps other than the ones from “authorised sources” such as the Google Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store. There’s no process for any other app store to get authorised, according to Epic.

Epic claimed that when it was first rolled out in October last year, Auto Blocker was an opt-in feature but it became enabled by default on all Samsung devices from July this year.

This means that every user is required to change their device settings before they can download and install any app from third party app stores or the web, Epic said.

Is Auto Blocker anti-competitive?

One of Epic’s key allegations is that Samsung has made it difficult for users to turn off the default Auto Blocker setting. “Auto Blocker defaulting to ‘on’ requires an exceptionally onerous 21 step process to download an app outside of the Google Play Store or the Samsung Galaxy Store,” the company said.

Samsung has also stopped informing users about how to turn off Auto Blocker in the “can’t install app” pop-up, according to a report by The Verge. By adding multiple steps and scare screens, Epic alleged that the South Korean handset maker was mirroring Google’s ‘Unknown Sources’ toggle button.

The company further questioned the purpose of Auto Blocker. “Auto Blocker conducts no assessment of the safety or security of any specific source or any specific app before blocking an installation,” the lawsuit reads. “The thing’s not designed to protect against malware, which would be a completely legitimate purpose […] The thing’s designed to prevent competition,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was quoted as saying.

Does Auto Blocker violate the Epic vs Google decision?

Four years ago, Epic sued Google over its alleged monopoly of the app store marketplace. During the trial, Epic argued that Google had wanted to pay Samsung in exchange for phasing out the Galaxy Store from its smartphones through initiatives such as Project Banyan.

“In 2020, Google signed a Revenue Sharing Agreement with Samsung. Since the agreement, Samsung has not entered into exclusive deals with major game developers to launch on the Galaxy Store, has not competed to offer developers a better headline rate than 30%, and has not taken other necessary steps in order to meaningfully compete with the Google Play Store,” Epic alleged.

In December 2023, a US jury unanimously decided that the big tech company’s app store practices are illegal, including the unlawful agreements Google enters into with phone manufacturers such as Samsung.

Specifically, the jury found that “Google entered into one or more agreements that unreasonably restrained trade in a relevant antitrust market” including “agreements with OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] that sell mobile devices.”

However, a US district court has not yet decided on what remedies Google should make in light of the jury’s verdict.

Meanwhile, Epic has argued that making Auto Blocker the default setting was intentionally done to “preemptively undermine” the court’s final order in the Epic vs Google matter.

In its second lawsuit, the company has asked the court to order Samsung to not enable Auto Blocker by default and prohibit the two companies’ alleged anti-competitive behaviour. “We will take all necessary steps to ensure this decision is fully upheld,” it said.

How have Google and Samsung responded?

Labelling Epic’s lawsuit as “deliberately misleading”, Google said, “While Android allows sideloading, Google and the security community have warned users for years about the real risks associated with downloading apps directly from the web.”

“Governments around the world have requested additional solutions to help further protect users from the fraud, theft and abuse from sideloaded apps that are causing real harm to people’s lives. That’s why Google offers its own safety features such as Google Play Protect, which checks for harmful apps on a user’s device, regardless of where the app was downloaded. Android device makers are free to innovate and design additional safety features for their devices,” Dave Kleidermacher, Google’s Android head of security, was quoted as saying by The Verge.

Samsung, on the other hand, said that users have the choice to disable Auto Blocker at any time. “The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users’ personal data,” it said, adding that it plans to “vigorously contest” the lawsuit.