EU Tells Google to Open Up Its Digital Toolkit

Key points

• The European Commission announced on Thursday that Google must share search data with competitors.
• Third-party AI assistants will gain more access to Android, starting in July 2027.
• Google has until January 2027 to comply with the search data sharing rules.
• Anonymisation safeguards and independent audits will govern what data gets handed over.

If you've ever felt like Google had all the search goodies to itself, the European Commission agrees. On Thursday it announced two specification decisions: one requiring Google to share search data with rival search engines, the other opening Android more widely to AI assistants beyond Gemini. As we reported on 16 July, these rulings from Brussels could let ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity work as deeply as Gemini on your Android phone.

This isn't a penalty for breaking rules. The EC calls it a specification proceeding, clarifying what Google, as a company large enough to control market access for smaller firms, must actually do.

Should you worry about your search data?

Google must start sharing its search data with rivals by January 2027. The aim is to let competing search engines and AI services improve using the same data Google already uses for itself. Before any transfer happens, Google can vet whether sharing with a specific recipient poses serious cybersecurity or data-protection risks. Recipients need verified investment plans and must pass independent audits before getting access, then yearly audits after that.

Anonymisation goes several layers deep: rare entries such as account details or addresses are stripped out, geographic and device metadata are generalised, and users are grouped into pools of at least a thousand people with similar profiles. The EC has also ruled that recipients cannot link the shared data to other datasets or pass it on to anyone else.

Google is unhappy. Kent Walker, its president of global affairs, argued that Europeans' private searches would be exposed to unfamiliar companies without adequate anonymisation. The company also flagged, separately, that the EC is asking for pseudonymisation rather than full anonymisation, a distinction it considers significant.

What changes on your Android phone?

By July 2027, third-party AI assistants will be able to be voice-activated and carry out actions inside apps, access currently restricted to Gemini. Google can set non-discriminatory eligibility conditions, so assistants must still meet its privacy and security standards to qualify. Walker warned the ruling threatens device security by granting powerful permissions without manufacturer safeguards, though the EC's own guidance makes clear that Google and device makers keep meaningful control.

The decision will be reviewed every two years as real-world experience accumulates.

The honest read here: the safeguards are more strong than Google's public statements admit, but the pseudonymisation point is a genuine technical gap the EC will need to answer as these rules bed in. Watch whether the biennial review sharpens that requirement.