The move is the latest by Brussels against the tech behemoth as it seeks to flex its muscles over Big Tech.
The order was made under the EU’s flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA), which forces the world’s biggest tech firms to open to competition in a bid to give users more choice.
The DMA is the bete noire of US President Donald Trump’s administration, which accuses Brussels of unfairly targeting American companies.
Brussels said Google must start sharing search data from January 2027 and users would start benefitting from the changes to Android from July 2027.
“Thanks to these measures we hope to see emerging alternatives to Google Search and Google’s AI services, such as Gemini, and that users in the EU can enjoy greater choice of services,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said.
For example, the EU said Android phone users should be able to use their preferred AI chatbot via voice commands, similar to the “Hey Google” command.
The EU said sharing search data would “rebalance the playing field” but Google pushed back, saying the measures “introduce unprecedented risks to user privacy, device security, and national security”.
Google’s head of global affairs Kent Walker said the EU moves risked “undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans”.
He said AI assistants already could access Android and by sharing search data, “Europeans’ private searches would be exposed to unfamiliar companies, without adequate anonymisation of the data and without user knowledge or consent”.
A senior European official insisted the EU “took integrity, security and privacy into utmost account”, and Brussels said the decision would ensure anonymisation of search data. (AFP)
