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1:54 PM · Aug 19, 2021TweetDeck

Google has a secret initiative originally called "Project Hug" that offers app makers like Activision Blizzard special treatment in exchange for paying the 30% fee and being quiet about it.

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Google admitted in an internal report that its app store "dominates in all countries," including the U.S.

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Larry Page told Steve Jobs in 2010 that "There will always be places we compete, and places where we cooperate."

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After another meeting between Apple and Google senior executives, notes showed that the execs agreed: "Our vision is that we work as if we are one company." That is a damning little piece of evidence.

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Google has promised smartphone manufacturers that use the Android OS a cut of its huge profits if they refuse to include other app stores on their devices.

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The biggest chunk of unredacted information focuses on direct Google and Epic negotiations, which Epic says involved Google acknowledging internally that allowing Fortnite to sidestep fees would cascade to other game makers, and seeking to buy off Epic.

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Google considered buying Epic Games during fight over Fortnite, court filings say

Note that part of that unredacted info shows that Google was looking to acquire all or part of Epic as part of its strategy, which

@zeanes

reported on earlier this month.

In newly released court documents, Epic Games says Google considered buying it to eliminate the threat it posed.

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Google said internally that allowing Epic's app store onto devices could eventually lead to SIX BILLION DOLLARS in lost revenue, if Amazon, Samsung and others followed suit.

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Another elongated section gets into the deals Google was signing with smartphone manufacturers, breaking down their structure and who signed on. The nut on that section:

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Man, I love when the redactions come off and there are fascinating numbers underneath. This unredacted graf shows that telcos get up to 25% of Google's app sales to keep them from developing rival app stores on the smartphones they sell and service.

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There are roughly two whole pages discussing Google's attempts to get Samsung to use its payment system for the Samsung Galaxy Store, an effort that Epic says is ongoing but current efforts are being shielded from view by Google. A sample:

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That's about it, the other redactions are largely shorter references to this information. Props to the judge who forced out the redactions in this filing, Americans deserve access to this information more than large companies deserve to do their deeds in secret.

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