Update, October 18, 5:00 p.m. ET: District Judge James Donato granted an administrative stay. This effectively suspends Donato’s earlier order, which was due to take effect soon, until the 9th Circuit rules on Google’s stay request. In a statement to Engadget, a Google spokesperson said:

The original story follows.

Google has officially filed a motion (PDF) asking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the order forcing the company to open the Play Store to competitors. As you may recall, Google lost an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games after a federal jury found that the company held an illegal monopoly on app distribution and in-app billing services for Android devices. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered Google to give third-party app stores access to the Google Play app catalog and make those stores downloadable through the storefront. Now Google is asking the court to stay that order while it appeals Epic’s antitrust decision, saying it would expose 100 million Android users in the US to “significant new security risks.”

The company called the order “harmful and unwarranted” and said if it remains in place, it will jeopardize Google’s ability to “provide a safe and trustworthy user experience.” It argued that by making third-party app stores available for download from Google Play, people might think the company is vouching for it, which could pose “real risks to (its) users”. These app stores may have “less stringent protections,” Google said, which could expose users to harmful and malicious apps.

It also said that granting access to the Play catalog to third-party stores could harm companies that don’t want their products available alongside inappropriate or malicious content. Giving third-party access to the entire library could give “malicious” businesses a “veneer of legitimacy.” Additionally, it was argued that allowing developers to link from their apps “creates a significant risk of fraudulent links” as malicious actors could use the feature to launch phishing attacks to compromise users’ devices and access their data steal.

One of the key changes proposed by the court is to allow developers to remove Google Play billing as an option, allowing them to offer their apps to Android users without having to pay the company a commission. However, Google said that by allowing developers to remove its billing system, it “could force an option that may not provide the security and features that users expect.”

In its filing, Google emphasized that the three weeks the court gave it to implement these sweeping changes was too short for a “Herculean task.” It poses an “unacceptable security risk” that could lead to significant issues affecting the functionality of users’ Android devices, it said. The company also questioned why the court sided with Epic in its antitrust lawsuit while it sided with Apple in a similar case also filed by the video game company. “It is troubling that Apple, which requires all apps to run through its proprietary App Store, is not a monopolist, but Google – which has built choice into the Android operating system so that device makers can pre-install it and users download competing app stores can – it was.” condemned for monopolization.”

Epic Games sent the following statement to Engadget: “The jury’s verdict and court’s injunction were clear: Google’s anti-competitive Play Store practices are illegal. Google is simply stoking fear and falsely using security as an excuse to delay court-ordered changes. This is Google’s latest attempt to protect its control of Android and continue charging exorbitant fees. The injunction must take effect quickly so that developers and consumers can benefit from competition in the mobile ecosystem.