One thing you could always confidently say about Sweeney was “he’s going to speak his mind”. Going back decades, he has consistently been outspoken against powerful platforms and gatekeepers, including Windows, Apple’s App Stores, and Google’s Google Play store.

Five years ago Epic Games sued Apple and Google over their app store practices. Recently, the Play Store case resolved with some very pro-consumer outcomes: Google agreed to lower its app store cut to 20% or below and allow for sideloading to be less “scary” (Google was using dark patterns to make all software appear as malware, despite Google’s Play Store itself hosting malware over the years.)

Anyway, Sweeney’s muzzling is extraordinary on multiple fronts: 1) this is a rare high-profile non-disparagement example affecting the party that ostensibly “won”. 2) The agreement lasts through 2032, much longer than other cases of this I could find. 3) It enforces a positive/advocacy tone in statements by Sweeney about Google, similar to his first tweet about the matter. (So it goes beyond non-disparagement.)

Take the closest analog I can find: Elon musk being barred from disparaging Twitter until his deal closed: that was for a much shorter period. Most “quiet periods” are typically well under a year.

Needless to say, take extra grains of salt/discounting about anything Sweeney says about the industry for 5 years. But also, I’ll give credit where its due: thanks Sweeney for fighting to loosen the duopoly’s stranglehold on app distribution and rent-seeking.