The UK Trial Over Google Play's Commission Opens This Week

Eight weeks of hearings over what Google charges on the Play Store begin on October 6 at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London. Two collective claims are being tried together: one brought for UK Android users, one for app developers. Both say the commission on apps and in-app purchases is excessive and unfair.

What was announced

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has listed the trial in cases 1408/7/7/21 and 1673/7/7/24 for October 6, 2026 at 10:30am, with a time estimate of eight weeks. The hearing is being livestreamed from the Tribunal's own site, as its hearings normally are.

The first case, Elizabeth Helen Coll v Alphabet Inc. and others, was registered in July 2021 and certified as collective proceedings in September 2022. It is brought on behalf of UK consumers.

The second, Professor Barry Rodger v Alphabet Inc. and others, was registered in August 2024 and is brought for app developers. According to the Tribunal's published case summary, the claim is specific: it alleges that Google abused its dominance in Android app distribution both by excluding rival distribution channels and by charging commission on app purchases, in-app content and subscriptions that is "excessive and unfair" in itself.

Both cases sit before the same panel — Mrs Justice Bacon, Tim Frazer and Andrew Taylor — and both are brought under section 47B of the Competition Act 1998.

What it means for players

The commission under argument is the cut taken before a developer sees your money. It is why some apps cost more inside the app than on the developer's own website, and why a few refuse to sell anything in the app at all.

Nothing changes in the Play Store while the trial runs. If the claims succeed, the remedy UK consumers would see is money back rather than cheaper apps overnight — the consumer class in Coll covers people who bought apps or made in-app purchases on Android in the UK, and class members do not have to do anything to be included.

For developers, the stake is the rate itself. A finding that the commission is excessive in its own right is a different kind of ruling from one about exclusionary conduct, and it is the one with the clearer effect on prices.

What happens next

Eight weeks of hearings takes the trial close to the end of the year, and the Tribunal issues judgments well after hearings close. There is no decision to expect this month. Both cases remain live claims, and Google denies the allegations in each.