Four years after Epic sued Google for running an illegal app store monopoly \u2014 a case it won this past December<\/a> \u2014 Epic is suing again. The Fortnite<\/em> game developer has filed a second<\/em> antitrust lawsuit against Google, and now additionally Samsung, accusing them of illegally conspiring to undermine third-party app stores.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The lawsuit revolves around Samsung\u2019s \u201cAuto Blocker<\/a>\u201d feature, which now comes turned-on-by-default on new Samsung phones. While it\u2019s turned on, it automatically keeps users from installing apps unless they come from \u201cauthorized sources\u201d \u2014 namely, Google and Samsung\u2019s app stores. Epic claims there\u2019s no process for any rival store to become \u201cauthorized.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When Epic filed its original lawsuits against Google and Apple in August 2020, it didn\u2019t yet have its own mobile app store. Now, it does: On August 16th, it launched the Epic Games Store<\/a> on Android globally and on iPhones in the European Union where the EU Digital Markets Act<\/a> forced Apple to allow alternate stores.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But a month before it could launch its own store, Epic alleges, Samsung suddenly decided to make Auto Blocker more or less on-by-default \u2014 making it harder for new phone buyers to install competing apps themselves. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Epic claims it now requires \u201can exceptionally onerous 21-step process\u201d to download a third-party app store onto a Samsung phone, making it that much more likely users will give up somewhere along the way. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n While \u201c21 steps\u201d seems like an exaggeration to me (Epic\u2019s own website<\/a> claims turning off Auto Blocker takes just four!) I can see the company\u2019s point when I try it on my own Samsung phone. Not only does Auto Blocker prevent me from installing the new Epic Games Store, the \u201ccan\u2019t install app\u201d pop-up no longer tells me<\/a> how to turn Auto Blocker off. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n When I search for \u201cturn off auto blocker\u201d in my Samsung phone\u2019s universal search bar, there are no relevant search results; when I search for \u201cauto blocker,\u201d I have to tap through several additional screens to shut it off. One of them asks me if I\u2019m really sure, claiming \u201cAuto Blocker keeps your phone safe by blocking threats and other suspicious activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Today, Epic alleges that promise of safety is entirely bogus: \u201cAuto Blocker conducts no assessment of the safety or security of any specific source or any specific app before blocking an installation,\u201d the legal complaint reads. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe thing\u2019s not designed to protect against malware, which would be a completely legitimate purpose,\u201d says Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. \u201cThe thing\u2019s designed to prevent competition.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe thing\u2019s not designed to protect against malware.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a roundtable interview with journalists, though, Sweeney admits he doesn\u2019t yet have proof that Google and Samsung colluded \u2014 he\u2019s hoping that comes out in the legal discovery process, like so very many embarrassing things did in Epic v. Google<\/em><\/a>. He also admits he didn\u2019t actually ask Samsung if the company would freely make the Epic Games Store an \u201cauthorized source.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Like with Sweeney\u2019s previous lawsuits, he claims that\u2019s because he\u2019s fighting on behalf of all app developers, not just Epic. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf we\u2019d fought Epic v. Apple <\/em>and Epic v. Google<\/em> solely on the basis of Epic getting special privileges, perhaps settlement discussions with Apple and Google might have been fruitful,\u201d says Sweeney. \u201cBut if we did that, we\u2019d be selling out all developers.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Instead, he says, he privately asked Samsung to either change Auto Blocker so it\u2019s turned off by default, or to create \u201can honest whitelisting process\u201d that would automatically let honest apps through Samsung\u2019s new barrier. When Samsung and Epic couldn\u2019t agree on \u201cthe basis\u201d of that whitelisting process, he says Epic threatened legal action, even sharing a draft version of today\u2019s legal complaint with Samsung. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019ve asked Samsung to confirm or deny whether Auto Blocker actually scans an app for threats or suspicious activity, and whether it worked with Google on the feature. We haven\u2019t heard back yet. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n I suspect Samsung will point out that it doesn\u2019t secretly or quietly turn on Auto Blocker, though; it lets users choose. \u201cThe default setting for Auto Blocker is set to On in the phone\u2019s initial setup wizard, but you can also change this setting to Off during the initial setup,\u201d the company\u2019s support page notes<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s also not yet clear whether Epic has been harmed by Auto Blocker. Only two new Samsung phones have shipped since Samsung turned it on-by-default. While Sweeney claims Google\u2019s previous attempts to add friction to third-party apps (\u201cUnknown Sources\u201d<\/a>) caused half the people who clicked \u201cdownload\u201d to give up partway, he admits he doesn\u2019t yet have data showing that the Samsung feature is making things worse. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n He says the Epic Games Store has now reached 10 million mobile installs, against a \u201ctotally achievable\u201d 100 million target by the end of the year<\/a>. He characterizes that as \u201ctraction but not an enormous amount.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Epic v. Google, <\/em>the company argued that the Unknown Sources install flow made it so hard to attract new users to a rival app store, Sweeney was eventually forced to bring Fortnite<\/em> to Google\u2019s store even though he promised Samsung he wouldn\u2019t<\/a>. Though the jury wasn\u2019t asked to decide on \u201cUnknown Sources\u201d specifically, they did decide that Epic was harmed by Google\u2019s behavior overall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Epic is asking for a jury trial this time as well. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Speaking of Epic v. Google<\/em>, we\u2019re expecting Judge James Donato to issue his final order there any day now<\/a>, and it\u2019s easy to imagine a world where Epic v. Samsung <\/em>gets affected by how he decides to change Google\u2019s behavior. If he grants Epic\u2019s biggest asks, the Google Play Store would be forced to carry the Epic Games Store and other app stores inside of it <\/em>and third-party app stores like Epic\u2019s would also get access to Google Play\u2019s entire app catalog. In that world, Auto Blocker seems a little less relevant. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But a Google appeal is guaranteed<\/a>, and Epic is positioning today\u2019s new lawsuit as a way to prevent and dissuade Google and partners from pursuing a \u201cmalicious compliance strategy\u201d in the meanwhile. You could even argue that\u2019s what Judge Donato asked for: in Epic v. Google<\/em>, he repeatedly told Epic\u2019s lawyers that he wouldn\u2019t grant their request for an anti-circumvention provision to keep Google from getting creative with workarounds. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t do don\u2019t-break-the-law injunctions… if you have a problem, you can come back,\u201d he said last November<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sweeney wouldn\u2019t necessarily commit to suing other companies that erect barriers to third-party app stores, but says Epic is \u201cwatching that very closely.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n