The European Commission has ordered Google to change how Android handles AI assistants and how Google Search shares data with rivals in the European Union, using legally binding powers under the Digital Markets Act.
The decision matters because it goes after two pieces of Google’s machinery that are hard for competitors to replicate: privileged Android integration for Gemini and the search data that helps Google tune the world’s dominant search engine. Google, designated a DMA “gatekeeper,” must comply, though the company says the measures create privacy and security risks.
Android assistants get a wider door
On Android, the Commission said Google must make room for competing AI assistants to use deeper system features. Today, according to the Commission, Google’s Gemini has advantages on Google-certified Android phones, including preinstallation, wake-word access through “Hey Google,” system and app automation, and the ability to interact with screen content.
The Commission said those limits make third-party assistants less useful to “60% of EU users who have an Android device.” Its position is that users should be able to choose another AI assistant without giving up core capabilities that Google’s own assistant can use.
The mechanics are the real fight. A voice or AI assistant with deeper Android hooks can do more than answer prompts. It can see context, act across apps, respond to system-level triggers, and automate device tasks. That makes it more useful, and also gives it more opportunities to touch sensitive data. The Commission said its measures were designed to protect privacy and device integrity.
Google disputes that. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said Google proposed narrower approaches that it believed would meet the DMA’s competition goals. He said the Commission’s decision “risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans.”
Walker also said phone makers already help vet AI tools on Android, and that forcing deeper access for non-Gemini assistants could bypass existing protections.
Search data must be shared
The Commission also ordered Google to provide search data to competing search providers. Regulators said Google’s earlier offers did not give rivals enough access to challenge its position in search.
Under the measures, Google must make data available transparently and for a reasonable fee. The Commission said AI chatbots must be treated as search services for this data-sharing requirement, which pulls the current wave of answer engines into the same regulatory bucket as traditional search competitors.
The goal, according to EU regulators, is to give smaller search companies access to metrics closer to what Google can see internally. Search quality improves when a provider can study queries, clicks, and other usage signals at scale. Google has spent years sitting on that feedback loop. The Commission is now telling it to rent out part of the loop.
Google says that creates new hazards. Walker argued that the search-data order threatens user privacy, trade secrets, and national security. The DMA decision requires Google to anonymize data through a multilayered process, and the Commission said it remains open to amending the decision to ensure identifiable data is handled properly.
The deadlines are staggered. Google must be ready to begin sharing search data in January 2027. Android changes for deeper AI assistant integration are due by July 2027.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
