EU wants Google to share search data

The European Commission wants Google to open parts of its search data to rival search engines and some artificial intelligence chatbots under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) In preliminary findings published April 16, the Commission said Google should share ranking, query, click and view data on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The proposal also covers who qualifies for access, how often data must be shared, and how personal data must be anonymised. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The Commission opened a public consultation on Friday, April 17, and gave interested parties until May 1 to comment. It said it expects to adopt a final decision by July 27, 2026. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu; money.usnews.com) Search data is the feedback loop that helps an engine improve results: what people ask, what links they click, and what they ignore. Brussels wants rivals to get some of that loop because the Digital Markets Act is designed to make digital markets “fairer and more contestable” when a platform is big enough to act as a gatekeeper. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu; digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu) Alphabet, Google’s parent, was designated a gatekeeper under the law in September 2023, along with Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft. The Commission is the sole enforcer of the Digital Markets Act. (loc.gov; digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu) This case follows a March 19, 2025 Commission finding that Google Search may have breached the law by favoring Alphabet’s own services over rivals in search results. The new data-sharing proposal is a separate compliance step aimed at spelling out what Google must provide to competitors. (digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu; money.usnews.com) The April 16 proposal says eligible beneficiaries could include AI chatbots with search functions, not just traditional search engines. That would extend the fight over search from browser results pages into the tools people use to ask questions in natural language. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu; bloomberg.com) Google has already submitted its own compliance proposals, but rivals told regulators those measures did not go far enough, according to Reuters. The company is now responding inside a formal consultation and decision process that runs through late July. (money.usnews.com; digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) If the Commission keeps its current approach, Google will have to share some of the data that helped make Google Search the default map of the web in Europe. The next deadline is May 1 for comments, before Brussels decides by July 27 how much of that map rivals can use. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu; money.usnews.com)