EU proposes opening Google search data

The European Commission has told Google it should share key search data with rival search engines under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. (digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu) In preliminary findings published April 16, the Commission said Google should provide ranking, query, click and view data on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The proposal also covers who can get the data, how often Google must provide it, and how personal data must be anonymised. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The Commission said eligible recipients could include artificial intelligence chatbots with search functions, not just traditional search engines. Interested parties can comment through a public consultation that opened Friday, April 17, and Reuters reported the Commission plans a final decision in July. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) (money.usnews.com) Search quality depends heavily on signals from millions of searches: what people type, which links they click, and what results they ignore. The Commission’s case is that access to those signals could help smaller rivals improve their own results and compete with Google Search. (digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu) This fight sits inside the Digital Markets Act, the European Union law aimed at forcing the biggest online platforms to open parts of their ecosystems to competitors. Google’s search-data obligation appears in Article 6(11), which requires access to anonymised ranking, query, click and view data on fair terms. (digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu) Brussels started formal specification proceedings on January 27, 2026, to spell out how Google should meet that duty. The Commission said at the time it would finish those proceedings within six months and publish non-confidential summaries so third parties could weigh in. (digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu) Google is already under separate Digital Markets Act pressure over how it displays its own services in search results. On March 19, 2025, the Commission said Alphabet appeared to favor products such as shopping, hotel, transport, finance and sports results over rival services in Google Search. (ec.europa.eu) Google has argued in a U.S. policy post that forcing it to share search queries, clicks and results with competitors could create privacy and security risks and reduce incentives for rivals to build their own search products. That post was about U.S. antitrust remedies, not this European Union proceeding, but it shows the company’s broader position on search-data sharing. (blog.google) The immediate next step is the consultation now open in Brussels, followed by a July decision if the timetable holds. If the Commission sticks to its draft, one of Google’s biggest competitive advantages — the feedback loop from billions of searches — would have to be shared under European Union rules. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) (money.usnews.com)