The European Commission adopted two binding decisions that require Google to share anonymized Search data with rival search engines and to open parts of Android to competing AI assistants.
The search data measures give eligible providers, including AI chatbots with search functions, access to anonymized query, click, view, and results-position data they can use to build their own retrieval and ranking systems.
The Commission set out both decisions under the Digital Markets Act, six months after opening the proceedings that produced them.
We covered the search data proposal in April, when it was preliminary findings out for public consultation. The version adopted this month is final.
What the Decision Requires
Google is required to share anonymized data on rankings, queries, clicks, and views from both free and paid Search results under fair and non-discriminatory terms. This includes information such as search queries, metadata like language and device type, viewed URLs, user interactions, and result positions.
However, it does not include Google’s ranking algorithms. Certain sensitive data, like account details, search histories, timestamps, and rare or lengthy queries, are suppressed to protect individuals.
The Commission stated that Google’s current data-sharing approach has failed. The new decision details what effective sharing entails, covering who qualifies and how data is priced, with costs based on recovery rather than open-market rates.
AI chatbots that qualify as online search engines under the DMA are eligible to use the data to improve their systems, but not for training general AI models or replicating Google’s results. These requirements are binding under the DMA but do not involve fines, unlike a separate DMA case related to self-preferencing and ongoing antitrust cases in European courts.
Why the Data Matters for AI Search
This decision extends beyond search engines into AI responses because it involves grounding. AI chatbots use recent web data to ensure their answers are accurate, and the quality of that data depends on the search information behind it. A 2025 explainer on AI Mode explained that Google grounds its models with a system called FastSearch, which relies on its own search ranking signals.
The decision does not give this to competitors. It doesn’t require Google to share FastSearch or its search algorithms and technology. Instead, Google must share anonymized data on queries, clicks, views, and result rankings that eligible parties can use to develop their own retrieval and ranking systems, with grounding being one of the approved uses.
In February, we suggested that this EU process could have more significant long-term implications for AI search than the US antitrust case because whether Google’s search data powers competing AI tools affects the entire system of AI responses, citations, and referrals. The decision marks the point where that issue begins to be addressed operationally. A chatbot with…
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