In December, Epic Games won a lawsuit against Google concerning potential monopolization of the Play Store. This month, the corporation continues its active involvement in the legal arena, filing another huge lawsuit — this time against Samsung and, once again, Google. The issue is an Auto Blocker function: it disables the option to install apps from unauthorized sources on Samsung smartphones and blocks potentially malicious activity.

Since summer 2024, this feature has been enabled by default on new devices, meaning users must manually disable it if they need to download apps from alternative stores. Epic claims that two tech giants have conspired to limit competition, as all other platforms, including Epic’s mobile store, EGS, are labeled as coming from "unknown sources" when people attempt to install them. 

According to Epic, this leaves Samsung smartphone owners with no choice but to get apps from the Google Play Store. Users have to perform twenty one steps to turn Auto Blocker off. Epic Games wants to prohibit Samsung from enabling the Auto Blocker feature by default and is seeking financial compensation for all incurred losses.

In conversations with journalists, Tim Sweeney mentioned that the company currently lacks direct evidence of collusion between Samsung and Google but hopes this will come to light during court proceedings. Sweeney also admits that they cannot yet substantiate claims that Samsung's Auto Blocker feature has led to lost profits for Epic Games.

Sweeney reportedly requested that Samsung's leadership disable the Auto Blocker feature or provide a way for "legitimate apps" to bypass the barrier automatically, but no agreement was reached.

Main image: alphacoders.com

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