I wonder how the current Epic Games v. Google court case factors in the new sideloading policies Google is signaling intent to enforce.
Requiring all Android developers to go through them, including paying a fee, sure sounds like something that fails to comply with this:
> the app-store-distribution remedy forbids Google from banning "third-party Android app distribution platforms or stores through the Google Play Store,” so that the same platforms can access Android smartphone users who are currently accustomed to downloading all their apps through the Play Store.
I suppose you could argue e.g. F-Droid is not itself available in the Play Store, but the news around sideloading sure seem like Google creating another way to circumvent the court decision's intention to, as it continues, "allow other app stores to compete in this two-sided market by letting them offer the apps and reach the users on the Play Store platform".
With the latest news[1], Google's next move should be appealing to the Supreme Court, and given its latest decisions I am not optimistic about that.
[1]: https://courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-upholds-fortnite-makers-antitrust-win-over-google/