Google's practice of requiring Gmail addresses for user accounts is illegal, according to a German court ruling. The parent company of GMX and Web.de (Ionos) had filed a lawsuit.

https://www.zdfheute.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/gmx-google-playstore-mailadresse-urteil-100.html

416 points · 41 comments · view on lemmy.world

41 Comments

cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone · 55 pts · 1y (9 replies)

did they change this because i was pretty sure you can create a google account with your normal email and then add gmail on later.

Luci@lemmy.ca · 21 pts · 1y

Maybe it’s regional?

Godnroc@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 1y (2 replies)

I created by account with my own email, but they forced the addition of a gmail for some service, so my account has two different usernames.

Worse, if I use the Google account login for a third party service it will use the fucking gmail account for notifications. I only learned this after they sold their domains off to square space and I had to try and hunt down my logins again and discovered that they hadn't been moved to my square space account with the same email but had been moved to a new account they created using my Google account.

DeprecatedCompatV2@programming.dev · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Are you saying that there's a random gmail account associated with every custom domain google account?

Godnroc@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Not quite, more that anyone who had a domain registered with Google may now have a Square Space account connected to their gmail address and Google account.

Scoopta@programming.dev · 6 pts · 1y

You definitely can do this. Unless this is an extremely recent change or only done outside the US

throws_lemy@lemmy.nz · 4 pts · 1y (2 replies)

No, it depends on where you live. In my country, goolag asks for your phone number. You can't use your other email address to create a goolag account.

roserose56@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Its not just google, it's every service now days that requires phone number. Specifically the big ones. For example, I remember gmx and mail.com didn't ask for a phone number, but they do now.

The "confirm that you are a human with a phone number"

01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 5 pts · 1y

The “confirm that you are a human with a phone number”

Because I have never received a robocall from a bot using a real phone number...

6nk06@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y

In France you have been able to create accounts with any address for a long time. Don't know why it would be different in another country.

FizzyOrange@programming.dev · 25 pts · 1y (5 replies)

This just seems completely unimportant compared to them locking down Android.

tomiant@programming.dev · 6 pts · 1y (1 reply)

And compared to the genocide in Myanmar it's wholly unimportant! Let's focus on a single thing at a time, that's the path to progress!

FizzyOrange@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y

While I don't think we can or should focus on a single thing, that doesn't mean we should focus on everything.

We can focus on more than one thing, but we can't focus on infinite things. We don't have infinite attention.

Investigating one thing does take away resources from being able to do other things.

There should be a name for this fallacy. I guess people struggle with it because it's one of those things where the middle is right.

meekah@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Also nothing forces them to adhere to this ruling outside of germany

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 0 pts · 1y (1 reply)

That only applies to people with gapps installed.

If you follow best practice of reinstalling the OS after you buy a device, that "lock down" does nothing for you

WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y

so basically everyone. I don't know where have I read it but its true: after this you won't be able to help your relatives and friends (when they ask) to use apps from fdroid that won't just blatantly steal their data and usage habits. not everybody is ready to have their OS replaced, it comes with loss of functionality thanks to fucking google integrity checking, and because lineage os often has significantly less features than the original system, but in lots and lots of cases: their phone is not even supported by a reputable custom rom, or any

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 12 pts · 1y

Also drives me crazy when I can't register for an account on my personal domain name, because they whitelist allowed domains for new user registrations

crimeschneck@sopuli.xyz · 12 pts · 1y (11 replies)

Translation:

A German court has ruled that Google’s practice of requiring users to use Gmail addresses for their accounts is unlawful. The lawsuit was brought by the parent company of GMX and Web.de.

The Regional Court of Mainz delivered a partial legal victory for the German email provider GMX/Web.de against the US tech giant, prohibiting Google from favoring its own Gmail service when users set up an Android smartphone and create a Google account. A Google account is required, for example, to access the Google Play app store or to log in to YouTube. According to the court, for a long time, setting up such an account required a Gmail address, while email addresses from GMX.de and Web.de could not be used or only with difficulty—putting Google’s competitors at a disadvantage.

Parent company 1&1 must bear part of the court costs
However, the court dismissed parts of the lawsuit, meaning 1&1, as the parent company of GMX/Web.de and the plaintiff in the case, must cover three-quarters of the procedural costs. The ruling is not yet final, and the case is expected to proceed to the next instance. Google has already filed an appeal.

Login now also possible with phone number
Google has already changed the behavior criticized in the lawsuit: Since May, users have been able to provide just a phone number during setup. However, Google still automatically creates a Gmail address—which, according to the court, is insufficient.

In its lawsuit, 1&1 referred to the new EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), which has been in force since 2024 and strengthens the rights of consumers and smaller companies against tech giants like Apple or Google. The underlying assumption is that major platform operators are so powerful that they could cement their market position and must therefore treat their own services and those of competitors equally.

1&1: EU regulations are taking effect
1&1 expressed satisfaction with the ruling. “This is a good sign for competition and consumer choice,” said Michael Hagenau, managing director of GMX and Web.de. Millions of users could now consciously choose a European provider with strict data protection instead of Gmail. He called it “a tangible signal for digital sovereignty.”

Google welcomed the fact that most of the claims were rejected, but expressed concern that the decision undermines the DMA’s goal of harmonizing rules. “We are concerned that the ruling undermines the DMA’s efforts to harmonize regulations,” the American company stated.

onlinepersona@programming.dev · 3 pts · 1y (9 replies)

Wait, so you can create a google account just with a phone number now in the EU? It's a step forward, but still... requiring Google service and Google accounts to use government apps is still crap.

Anti Commercial-AI license

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 7 pts · 1y (8 replies)

How is requiring a phone number a good thing?

onlinepersona@programming.dev · 0 pts · 1y (7 replies)

Better doesn't mean good. Don't mix them up.

Anti Commercial-AI license

JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y (6 replies)

But it's neither good nor better, it's worse.

onlinepersona@programming.dev · -2 pts · 1y (5 replies)

Adding more options to be less identifiable is "worse". I completely see your logic 👍

Anti Commercial-AI license

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 5 pts · 1y (4 replies)

Phone numbers are more identifiable. They're more scarce and harder to get anonymous than an email address.

onlinepersona@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y

No, they are not. Not every country requires KYC to get a SIM card. They can be purchased in many places with cash, sometimes even with default generic credentials.

Also if you add the space of emails to the space of phone numbers, it increases the space of possible sources for account creation, which logically dilutes the space.

And just to remind you, the article is about creating accounts required to use mobile phones with Google accounts. Making it possible to use your Google phone with just your phone number instead of requiring an additional email makes it specifically less identifiable.

Anti Commercial-AI license

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 1y

Fuuuck, GMX is owned by 1&1? Fuck that company

tomiant@programming.dev · 10 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Thank god there is any pushback on anything these capitalist godzillas are perpetrating on humanity.

Now, someone tell me how it's going to fail and is just a hype attempt by the fascist coalition to gear up the fourth reich.

YesButActuallyMaybe@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1y

[ removed ]

BussyGyatt@feddit.org · 1 pts · 1y

it really do be like that tho fr

hansolo@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 1y (3 replies)

How is it that one day the EU or some EU country is saving the day on this stuff, then the next they're about to decrypt everything?

Y'all, the world is falling the fuck apart. Right now, in real time. We need somewhere safe. Somewhere that isn't trying to fucking rifle through our pockets every minute of every day.

The robots in the Matrix were more chill than Google right now.

porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

How is it that one day the EU or some EU country is saving the day on this stuff, then the next they're about to decrypt everything?

It's a huge organisation with different people in different offices working on different things. There's no individual in charge of making sure all those things are consistent.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 1y

I know, the whiplash is just a lot right now, and EU is not quick to harmonize policy issues like this.

Kissaki@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y

One is law and the other is drafting of laws without confirmed majorities.

Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub · 6 pts · 1y

Just make the account for the one-off situation, store it in keepass and never give them anything more.

The cold method. You get what you ask for, nothing more, like we're all dead end employees and it's just another ask.

DemBoSain@midwest.social · 4 pts · 1y

The District Court of Mainz has prohibited the US technology giant from prefering to Gmail's own mail service when users set up an Android smartphone and create a Google account. A Google account is required for the Google Play app store or log in to Youtube.

Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 4 pts · 1y

No duh, they did the whole antitrust thing about MS Internet Explorer, but Google is just too powerful.

I'm glad this is getting some attention.

sudoer777@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 1y

I'm in the US and my Google account uses a non-gmail address with a custom domain

crimeschneck@sopuli.xyz · -1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I'm confused: So you needed a Gmail address for a Google user account, but how can you have a Gmail address without a Google user account?

SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org · 5 pts · 1y

You can't, but they will create a Gmail account for you when you open up a Google account (like when you start using a regular Android phone).

The complaint here is, that you can't simply use your mail account from a different provider to do something like that and that all of Googles services tie into that Gmail account they create for you.