Google to Get EU Instructions on Sharing of Search Data, Android AI Tools — 3rd Update

By Edith Hancock

The European Union will tell Alphabet's Google how to give competitors access to search data and Android AI tools as it prepares guidance on complying with the bloc's digital-competition rulebook.

The European Commission said Tuesday that it had opened so-called specification proceedings into Google's compliance with its Digital Markets Act, a law that it says is designed to level the playing field for companies relying on search engines and app stores to reach customers.

One of the proceedings' focuses will be on features used by Google's artificial-intelligence services within the tech company's Android operating system, such as its chatbot Gemini, it said. The Commission said it would tell Google how it should grant rival AI-service providers equal access to features and tools used by Google's own services.

"Our goal is to keep the AI market open, unlock competition on the merits and promote innovation, to the benefit of consumers and businesses," Henna Virkkunen, the EU's top tech regulator, said in a statement Tuesday.

The commission also said it would assist Google with complying with provisions that concern how the company lets competing search engines access datasets for areas such as ranking and queries held by Google Search. The watchdog said it plans to wrap up the proceedings within six months. It issued guidance to Apple under a similar legal process last year.

The DMA sets out a list of do's and don'ts for the world's largest tech groups. Companies can face fines of up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover for falling foul of the rules.

"Android is open by design, and we're already licensing Search data to competitors under the DMA," Clare Kelly, Google's senior competition counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in a statement. "However, we are concerned that further rules which are often driven by competitor grievances rather than the interest of consumers, will compromise user privacy, security and innovation."

It comes as the commission's competition regulator has increased its scrutiny of tech giants' deployment of AI tools in recent months. EU officials last year started investigating Google over how it uses content online to power tools such as its AI Overviews.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 27, 2026 08:18 ET (13:18 GMT)