EU Orders Google to Share Search Data With AI Rivals and Open Android Assistant Slots

The European Commission issued guidance on July 16 requiring Google to give rival search engines and AI services access to certain anonymized Google Search data, including query, click and ranking signals on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The data-sharing obligation is set to begin in January 2027.

Separately, the Commission told Google to open eleven Android features currently reserved for its Gemini assistant, so users can launch a competing assistant by voice and delegate tasks such as booking a ride. That interoperability requirement applies from the next Android release scheduled for mid-2027. Both measures fall under the Digital Markets Act, which allows fines of up to ten percent of worldwide annual turnover for non-compliance.

Google objected. Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker warned that the measures "risk undermining privacy and security safeguards", the standard argument incumbents raise against data-portability mandates. The Commission's reply is that the search index and interaction logs are the durable input rivals cannot replicate, and that access, not model quality, is now the binding constraint on competition in AI-mediated search.

What is verified is the obligation and the timeline. What is not yet settled is the mechanism, meaning which data fields, at what granularity, and through what interface competitors will actually receive. Firms most likely to benefit, including OpenAI and Perplexity, have said little about how usable anonymized aggregate signals will be for training or ranking.