Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The European Commission has adopted two legally binding decisions forcing Google to open its Android mobile operating system to rival artificial intelligence services and share its search data with competing search engines and AI chatbots, marking a significant escalation in the bloc's efforts to curb Big Tech's dominance under the Digital Markets Act. The measures, announced on Thursday, July 16, 2026, are designed to create a more level playing field by dismantling what regulators view as Google's unfair advantages in the search and AI assistant markets. The Commission said Google must begin sharing search data with eligible providers from January 2027, while Android interoperability measures are expected to become available to users from July 2027.
The first set of binding specification measures requires Google to open up 11 key features of its Android operating system to rival AI assistants, ensuring they can compete on equal footing with Google's own Gemini AI service. These features, described by a senior Commission official as "core building blocks," include the ability to launch an AI assistant using a voice prompt, seamlessly integrate with other apps on the device, and access key system functions. The Commission noted that third-party AI assistants are currently restricted from fully accessing Android devices, which account for 60 per cent of smartphone users in Europe, creating an unfair advantage for Gemini. Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera stated that the decision would help smaller competitors provide choice while protecting user privacy.
The second measure instructs Google to share raw search data with rival search engines and AI chatbots that have web search functionality. The bloc hopes this will boost competition, noting that Google currently holds around a 90 per cent share of the search market in Europe. A Commission official suggested that including AI chatbots as recipients of Google search data would lead to users having a more competitive choice of web search services. The EU has applied a range of privacy safeguards to manage risks associated with data sharing, including a multi-layered approach to fully anonymise data. Google will also be allowed to assess whether search information poses serious cybersecurity or privacy risks before sharing.
Google has strongly pushed back against the measures, warning that they introduce "unprecedented risks to user privacy, device security, and national security". In an email statement, Kent Walker, Google's President of Global Affairs, argued that the EU's actions would "undermine vital privacy and security guardrails" and that sharing search data would expose "Europeans' private searches to unfamiliar companies, without adequate anonymisation of the data and without user knowledge or consent". A senior European official insisted that the EU had taken "integrity, security and privacy into utmost account". Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, said the measures would support innovation and enable fair competition in the AI assistant and search engine markets.
The confirmed obligations arise after the Commission's preliminary orders in April and the opening of two DMA "specification proceedings" in January. The decisions are legally binding under the DMA, which regulates Google's search engine and mobile operating system on account of their market power. They are not part of a formal probe that could lead to fines. However, sources close to the matter have confirmed that the EU could hit Google with a fine next week in a separate investigation under the DMA law. The EU has the right to impose fines of up to 10 per cent of a company's total global turnover for violations of the DMA. Google is no stranger to such penalties, having been fined a total of €8.2 billion between 2017 and 2019 under different competition rules, and receiving a €2.95 billion fine in a separate antitrust case in September 2025.
The scrutiny of Google does not end there, as the Commission continues to enforce the DMA against other Big Tech companies. The new rules are expected to significantly reshape the European digital landscape, giving consumers greater choice in AI assistants and search services while challenging Google's long-standing dominance in both markets. All developers, large and small, have been invited to explore these new opportunities. The Commission said the measures are necessary to ensure that AI assistants are fully featured and attractive to users, preventing Google's Gemini from becoming the only viable choice for Android users. As the January and July 2027 deadlines approach, the tech industry will be watching closely to see how Google implements the requirements and whether the measures will indeed deliver the competition and innovation the EU envisions.
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