Google has taken its dispute with the European Union to court over regulatory measures that would require the company to open parts of its Android ecosystem to rival AI services and provide search data to competing search engines.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, filed two legal challenges with the EU’s General Court on Monday, escalating a dispute over how far the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) should go in forcing major technology platforms to accommodate competitors.
The European Commission adopted the measures in July as part of its efforts to increase competition in online search and AI services. The changes are expected to take effect in 2027.
One of the disputed measures requires Google to make anonymised search data available to eligible competing search engines under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
The European Commission argues that Google’s dominant position in search gives it access to a large amount of data that helps improve its service. It says that providing rivals access to relevant data could help them develop competing search products and give European users more choice.
AI chatbots with search capabilities can also qualify under the framework. Google objected to the requirement, arguing that even with anonymisation measures, sharing search histories could expose highly personal information.
"We're appealing decisions that will force us to share people's private search history without sufficient anonymisation and weaken vital security protections on Android," Google's senior director of competition, Oliver Bethell, said in a statement.
"People use Search for their most personal questions from medical worries to close relationships and mandating we share these personal queries without adequate safeguards would cause irreversible harm to user privacy," he further added.
The second measure concerns Android and is aimed at allowing rival AI assistants to access features currently available to Google’s own AI services. Under the EU’s decision, competing AI services could gain access to 11 Android features, allowing users, for example, to activate alternative AI assistants through voice commands and use them for tasks inside applications.
Google argued that opening these capabilities to outside services could weaken security protections on Android. The company has said it has proposed alternatives that would address competition concerns without compromising user privacy or device security.
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The European Commission said the measures include safeguards designed to protect personal data, device integrity and security. It said Google will be able to assess whether competing services meet relevant privacy and cybersecurity requirements.
Privacy-focused search company DuckDuckGo has supported the EU's position, arguing that the anonymisation framework is sufficient. The court challenges now place the dispute before the EU judiciary.
The case could help determine how the DMA is applied to search data, Android and emerging AI competitors as regulators seek greater competition in markets dominated by major technology companies.