“Sweeney agreed in a binding terms sheet to not only stop attacking Google’s app store policies, but to actively support the changes the company is rolling out.”
Tim Sweeney spent years calling Apple and Google “gangster-style businesses” running illegal monopolies. He sued. He won the antitrust case against Google. Then he settled and signed a binding agreement that bars him from criticizing Google’s app store policies until at least 2032. He also has to actively praise Google’s changes. The man who positioned himself as the champion of developer freedom traded his loudest weapon for a settlement check. Google did not just buy peace. They bought Sweeney’s silence and his endorsement. That is not a settlement. That is a muzzle with a price tag.