Google takes EU to court over orders to share search data with AI rivals

Google has gone to court to challenge two EU orders that would require it to open Android to rival AI assistants and share search data with other search engines, Reuters reported . It filed both cases at the EU General Court in Luxembourg on Monday.

In July, the European Commission issued orders under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is the EU’s rulebook for the biggest tech companies.

These orders are not fines, but they lay out, step by step, how Google must follow the rules it already has to follow.

The first order focuses on AI for Android devices. By August 2027, other assistants must have the same access as Gemini to 11 phone features, including voice activation and the ability to perform actions within apps.

Starting in January 2027, Google must give competing search engines, including AI chatbots, access to data about what people search for and click on. This data must not include personal details and should be shared fairly.

The company believes both orders are too extreme. Oliver Bethell, the company’s senior director of competition, said these rules would make Google share search histories that are not fully anonymized and could reduce Android’s security.

“Mandating we share these personal queries without adequate safeguards would cause irreversible harm to user privacy,” Bethell said.

The Commission, for its part, says both decisions protect privacy and keep phones secure.

The anonymity measures employed in the decision were designed in consultation with privacy experts, and Google also has the option to refuse to provide the data to any company that poses a serious threat to security or privacy.

DuckDuckGo, whose search engine does not track users, backed the regulator. A spokesperson said the anonymization rules were sound and that an appeal would only win Google time.

Under EU law , going to court does not, by itself, suspend a Commission decision, so the 2027 deadlines stand unless the court says otherwise.