EU orders Google to share Search data and open Android AI access to rivals

The European Commission on July 16, 2026 issued two legally binding Digital Markets Act specification decisions ordering Google to share anonymized Search data with rivals and open Android AI-assistant functions to competing chatbots. The order sharpens proceedings the regulator opened in January 2026 on the same two obligations.

The fight is over who controls the next default assistant on Europe’s phones. By forcing Google to expose data and hooks it had reserved for its own Gemini assistant, Brussels is trying to keep the emerging AI-assistant market from settling into the incumbency it spent a decade contesting in search.

Under Article 6(11), Google must give third-party search engines and AI chatbots, including OpenAI’s, access to anonymized Search ranking, query, click and view data, using a multi-layered anonymization method the Commission developed with privacy experts. That sharing starts in January 2027. Under Article 6(7), rival assistants such as ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude must get equally effective access to Android functions now reserved for Gemini, including voice-command activation and task delegation, from the next major Android version in July 2027.

Google said the order does the opposite of protecting users. Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer, said the decisions “risk undermining privacy and security safeguards that are critically important for millions of Europeans,” and warned the Android ruling “threatens device security by granting external apps sensitive and powerful device permissions.”

The decisions set requirements rather than levy a fine, and the anonymization method has not been publicly tested against re-identification risk. The staggered 2027 start dates give Google months to challenge the specifications or contest their scope.