EU Orders Google to Share Search Data With AI Rivals: What It Means

The European Commission has ordered Google to share anonymised search data with rival AI chatbots, including OpenAI, from January 2027, and to open 11 Android features to competing AI assistants from July 2027. For brands tracking AI search visibility, this means the sources feeding tools like ChatGPT's search function could soon include some of Google's own search signals, potentially reshaping who gets cited and how quickly rival platforms close the gap on Google's discovery advantage.

What changed?

On 16 July 2026, the European Commission issued two binding sets of specification measures against Google under the Digital Markets Act, according to the European Commission. The first measure aims to ensure that competitors' AI services can compete with Google's own AI services, such as Gemini, by getting equal access to features on Android devices.

The second measure targets search itself, giving third-party search engines access to search data that only Google Search can currently collect at scale.

That creates two separate obligations on two separate timelines. Per BigGo Finance, search data sharing begins in January 2027, with anonymised data provided to competitors including OpenAI, while the Android changes apply from the next version of Android, scheduled for July 2027, letting users launch rival AI assistants by voice command.

The Android change is the more visible one for consumers. As CNBC reports, Google will open 11 Android features to AI rivals so they can better compete with Gemini, meaning users could activate a rival AI assistant by voice, similar to "Hey Google", to book a taxi or search for a place.

Google is pushing back hard. Its chief legal officer, Kent Walker, told CNBC: "Today's decisions risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans. We have repeatedly offered solutions to safeguard users while satisfying the DMA's goals, but these rulings discount extensive evidence of user harm."

The EU's competition chief framed the goal in market terms. Per Business Standard, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said: "Thanks to these measures we hope to see emerging alternatives to Google Search and Google's AI services, such as Gemini, and that users in the EU can enjoy greater choice of services."

Safeguards are built into the order. Google will only open the 11 Android features to rivals that meet security and privacy standards, and a formula sets the price Google can charge for the shared search data. The decision follows six months of specification proceedings the Commission opened to help Google work out how to comply with the DMA.

Why does this matter for your business?

If you sell into European markets, this decision could change which AI systems your customers use to find you, and how quickly those systems can match Google's answer quality.

Google's current dominance in AI-powered discovery rests partly on the scale of search data it alone collects. Restricted Android access currently limits how attractive rival assistants can be, since third-party AI assistants can't offer the same depth of functionality as Google's own services, which have full access to the operating system.

Once OpenAI and other search-enabled chatbots get access to anonymised Google search data, their answers could become more accurate and better sourced, faster than they would have developed on their own. That reshuffles the "which AI engine matters most for my customers" calculation that most GEO strategies are currently built around.

The EU frames this as a consumer choice issue rather than a competition technicality. The stated aim is to give European users a wider, more feature-rich range of AI and search options to choose from.

Scale matters here too. Restricted Android access currently limits third-party assistants' appeal to the roughly 60% of EU users who own an Android device, according to the Commission's reasoning. Loosening that restriction could shift a meaningful share of discovery traffic.

For brands that have concentrated all their AI visibility efforts on ChatGPT and Google's own AI Overviews, this ruling signals that the field of relevant AI search surfaces in Europe could widen again rather than narrow. A voice-activated rival assistant built into Android, and a search-enabled chatbot with richer underlying data, are both new discovery paths worth watching.

What should you do now?

Don't overhaul your GEO strategy overnight. The obligations here run on a fairly long fuse: data sharing starts in January 2027, and the Android changes land with the Android version scheduled for July 2027. That gives most businesses well over a year of runway.

Three practical steps are worth taking now.

First, keep tracking your brand's visibility across all major AI platforms, not just the two or three that dominate today. Regulatory-driven shifts in market share can happen faster than expected once new data pipelines open.

Second, watch how OpenAI's search product evolves once it has access to richer underlying search signals. If ChatGPT's search answers become noticeably better sourced in Europe from January 2027, the citation patterns your brand currently relies on could shift.

Third, treat this as a prompt to check your current baseline. Before any of these changes land, it's worth knowing exactly how visible your brand already is across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, which is exactly the kind of gap Sited's free AI visibility audit at sited.online is designed to surface.

Regulatory change of this scale rarely moves quickly, but it does eventually reshape where and how people discover brands. Businesses that start monitoring now will have a head start when the new rules actually bite.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly did the EU order Google to do?

The European Commission issued two binding measures: Google must share anonymised search data with rival search-enabled AI services such as OpenAI's, and must open 11 Android operating system features to competing AI assistants, as confirmed on the European Commission's Digital Markets Act page.

When do these changes take effect?

The search data sharing obligation begins in January 2027, while the Android feature changes are tied to the next version of Android, scheduled for July 2027.

Does this affect businesses outside the EU?

The rules are specific to EU markets and Android devices sold there. However, any business serving European customers through AI search channels should expect the competitive balance between Google's AI products and rivals like ChatGPT to shift over the next 18 months.

Will this apply in the UK?

No, not automatically. The ResultSense report notes that none of this applies automatically in Britain, since the UK's parallel route runs through the Competition and Markets Authority's digital markets regime, which moves case by case rather than through prescribed feature lists.

How does Google feel about the ruling?

Google strongly objects, arguing the changes compromise user safety. Its chief legal officer said the decisions "risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans." The Commission maintains it has built in safeguards, including security vetting of any company before it gets access.