The European Commission issued two separate decisions against Google under the Digital Markets Act, forcing the opening of both Android and the search engine to competitors. Among the beneficiaries there are not only other search engines, but also the Rival AI assistants like ChatGPT and Copilotdeveloped by OpenAI and Microsoft respectively.
On the Search front, Google will have until January 2027 to start sharing research data. As a “gatekeeper” pursuant to European legislation, the company will have to cede this information not only to direct competitors in the field of online search, but also to conversational chatbots, thus expanding the audience of those who will be able to draw on the information assets collected by Mountain View.
For Android the situation is different concerns system permissions. Today Gemini, as a pre-installed app, enjoys privileged access to the operating system: it can interact with other apps, control the phone’s hardware functions and remain permanently listening in the background for the voice command “Hey Google”. Brussels requests that the same level of access is also guaranteed to competing assistants, with a deadline set at July 2027.
Google’s response: “The security of devices is at risk”
Google is not there and has responded publicly on the official blog The Keyword, signed by Kent Walkerpresident of Global Affairs at Google and Alphabet. According to the company, the two decisions “risk undermining fundamental privacy and security protections for millions of European citizens.”
The argument mainly concerns Android: third-party assistants, explains Google, already safely access the functions of the operating system today, thanks to the verification work carried out by smartphone manufacturers. The new rule imposed by Brussels, however, would grant sensitive and powerful permissions to external apps without the same guarantees, threatening the overall security of devices. Google even recalls the European cybersecurity agencythat “security fundamentals matter more than ever in the age of AI.”
On the Search side, the declared concern concerns anonymisation. The private searches of European users, the company claims, would end up exposed to “unknown companies, without adequate data anonymization and without awareness or consent on the part of the user”, with implications for citizens’ privacy, companies’ trade secrets and, according to Google, even national security.
It remains to be seen whether these objections will find space in the coming months of discussions with Brussels, or whether they will translate into a formal appeal against the decisions. The timetable is, however, set: from January 2027, search data will have to start circulating to competitors, while the opening of Android to rival assistants will become mandatory from July of the same year.
