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Google legally can’t be held liable for the games it offers to children, even if it allegedly promotes gambling, a judge has ruled.
The decision is the latest development in a class action lawsuit filed by parents claiming Google’s Play Store games manipulate kids into spending money on so-called loot boxes.
In a ruling filed Wednesday, California District Judge Beth Freeman dismissed the complaint and agreed with Google’s claims that the Communications Decency Act (CDA) shields it from liability.
“Section 230 of the CDA protects certain internet-based actors from certain kinds of lawsuits,” Freeman said, adding that federal courts have established “broad immunity” from liability stemming from third party services.
Initially filed in June 2020, the complaint alleged Google profits unfairly by offering games that sell so-called loot boxes. Allegedly, these loot boxes function like a lottery, because a customer can buy a loot box or a loot crate, which gives them the chance to receive randomized virtual items. The attraction of these purchases is that users have the chance to win particularly valuable items.
Since Google doesn’t actually make the games, the company is shielded legally, Judge Freeman said in her motion to dismiss.
The Three-Prong Test to Determine Liability
Congress passed the CDA in 1996 in response to internet pornography. Section 231 has been widely interpreted to define internet services differently than publishers.
The Ninth Circuit has developed a “three-prong test” determining if a company is protected by the CDA’s Section 230, according to the motion.
Google passes all three. It provides an interactive digital service through the Play Store; Google isn’t creating the loot boxes and the games are one of many apps offered by Google.
“Google cannot be held liable for merely allowing video game developers to provide apps to users through the Google Play store, as ‘providing third parties with neutral tools to create web content is considered to be squarely within the protections of [Section] 230,'” the motion said.
Judge Freeman said the plaintiffs could re-filed the class action with amendments.
The parents suing Google argue the company is raking in billions of dollars with a scheme that doesn’t even guarantee anything in exchange.
Although Google doesn’t make the games that sell these loot boxes, they do take a 30 percent cut of all sales from games downloaded from the Play Store.
Do you or your family make in-game purchases on the Google Play Store? Should Google be held liable for offering these games? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Timothy G. Blood and Thomas J. O’Reardon II of Blood Hurst & O’Reardon LLP.
The Google Loot Box In-Game Purchase Class Action Lawsuit is John Coffee, et al. v. Google LLC, Case No. 5:20-cv-03901, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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4 thoughts onJudge Drops Google Play Store Loot Box Class Action
Is there any lawsuit against the games through Google Play that say they pay you money and they do not no matter what you do they tell you you didn’t log in or this or that and that’s not true I’ve been in those games three and four times a day and then they tell me I haven’t been in there please tell me if there’s a class action against them because I had over $100,000 in one that I was supposed to get plus another $10,000 that they were supposed to send me
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If this lawsuit is ever re-instated, please alert me. I need to join this one.
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