Pennsylvania was part of multistate lawsuit alleging monopolistic practices over app availability, costs
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday is offering information for Pennsylvania consumers who may be due restitution payments from a national $700 million settlement with Google, regarding the company’s monopolistic practices regarding its Google Play Store app.
Consumers who made purchases on the Google Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023 are eligible for payments, and are expected to receive those automatically — after the settlement is finalized, likely in Spring 2026.
Impacted consumers began receiving notifications last week, following a court’s preliminary approval of the settlement, which also requires Google to stop its anticompetitive practices.
Pennsylvania is expected to receive an approximate $20.5 million share of the settlement fund for impacted consumers.
“When any corporation uses their monopoly power to stifle competition and raise costs, consumers pay the price,” Attorney General Sunday said. “While impacted consumers are expected to receive payments automatically, Pennsylvanians who used this app should still pay close attention to the timeline and other details of the settlement.”
Again, most affected consumers do not need to take further action to receive a payment from the settlement fund. The settlement fund will make the majority of payments automatically, and no claim form is necessary in most cases.
Once the settlement has been approved by the court, consumers will receive an email from PayPal or a text from Venmo notifying them of their incoming payment at the email address or mobile phone number associated with their Google Play account.
If that email address or phone number is also associated with a PayPal or Venmo account, then the payment will be made directly to that account. If that email address or phone number does not match an email address or phone number associated with a PayPal or Venmo account, then consumers have the option to create a new account or direct the payment to a PayPal or Venmo account at another email address or phone number.
There will be a supplemental claims process after the automatic payments process is complete for consumers who either:
- Do not have an existing PayPal or Venmo account and do not want to sign up for PayPal or Venmo;
- No longer have access to the email address or mobile phone number associated with their Google Play account; or
- Were expecting to receive a payment but did not.
If consumers would like to be notified by email when the supplemental claims process starts, they may submit their name, email address, and mobile phone number on the settlement website.
Attorney General Sunday encourages all affected consumers to keep track of these upcoming dates in the settlement approval process:
- Consumers who do not want to receive payment from the settlement fund and want to bring their own case against Google must submit a request to be excluded online or in writing by February 19, 2026.
- Consumers who want to object to the settlement can file a written objection by February 19, 2026.
- The court will hold a hearing on April 30, 2026, to consider whether to approve the settlement.
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