EU requires Google to be more open with Search and Android AI

Brussels – 16 July 2026: The European Commission has required Google, in two binding decisions, to share anonymized web search data with eligible competitors and enable competing AI assistants to gain effective access to key Android functions. The decisions are based on the Digital Markets Act, which imposes special competition obligations on large digital platforms.

In the search business, Alphabet must provide data on search queries, rankings, clicks and visits under Article 6(11) of the law. Eligible search engines and AI chatbots with search functionality will be allowed to use this information to develop and improve their own search technologies. The Commission justifies the intervention by citing Google’s market share of more than 90 percent in the European search market for years.

However, use of the data remains tightly restricted. Recipients may not use the information to train general AI models, for advertising, user profiles or the systematic replication of Google’s results. The Commission requires the data to be technically anonymized. Contractual obligations, independent reviews before data access and annual audits are intended to reduce the remaining risk of re-identification to a negligible level.

The second decision concerns Android, which, according to the Commission, is used by around 60 percent of mobile users in the EU. Third-party AI service providers are to receive access to eleven functions that have so far been largely reserved for Google’s own offerings, particularly Gemini. These include activating an assistant by voice command or the home button, access to user-authorized contextual data, and functions for carrying out tasks within applications.

The requirements also cover system resources and AI models running on the device. With the user’s explicit consent, an alternative assistant could therefore, for example, prepare messages, create appointments, offer translations or carry out workflows across apps. Google must grant competing services access under conditions comparable to those for its own AI offerings.

The Commission sees the decisions as a clarification of existing obligations, rather than new regulation. It opened the proceedings on 27 January 2026 after implementation discussions with Alphabet proved inadequate. According to the authority, Google had removed between 90 and 100 percent of unique search queries from the dataset in its original proposal and had largely excluded AI chatbots.

Google sharply criticized the decisions. Kent Walker, the company’s president for global affairs, warned that the measures could undermine essential privacy and security safeguards for millions of Europeans. The Commission, however, points to technical, contractual and controlled safeguards. It intends to closely monitor implementation of the Android requirements over the next two years.