EU orders Google to share search data and open Android to AI rivals

The European Union demanded that Google share search data with other search engines and open its Android system to rival AI services. Google said the measures would create privacy and security risks.

The order was made under the EU's Digital Markets Act, which requires the largest technology firms to open parts of their services to competition in an effort to give users more choice. Brussels said Google must start sharing search data from January 2027, while users would start seeing changes to Android from July 2027.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the measures were intended to help alternatives to Google Search and Google's AI services, including Gemini, and to give users in the EU greater choice. The EU said, for example, that Android phone users should be able to use their preferred AI chatbot through voice commands, in a way similar to the “Hey Google” command.

The EU said sharing search data would help rebalance competition. Google opposed the measures. Kent Walker, Google's head of global affairs, said they risked weakening privacy and security safeguards for millions of Europeans. He said AI assistants could already access Android, and said sharing search data could expose Europeans' private searches to unfamiliar companies without enough anonymisation or user knowledge or consent.

A senior European official said the EU had taken integrity, security and privacy strongly into account. Brussels said the decision would ensure anonymisation of search data.

The demand is legally binding and follows a procedure launched in January, but it is not a formal investigation that could lead to fines. The source report said EU scrutiny of Google continues in a separate Digital Markets Act investigation, and that sources close to the matter said the EU could fine Google next week in that case, confirming a Financial Times report.

The EU can impose fines of up to 10 percent of a company's total global turnover for Digital Markets Act violations. The source report said Google has previously faced EU fines totalling 8.2 billion euros between 2017 and 2019 under different competition rules, and a 2.95 billion euro fine in September last year in a separate antitrust case.

The source report also said the Digital Markets Act is opposed by US President Donald Trump's administration, which accuses Brussels of unfairly targeting American companies.