EU Orders Google to Open Android to Rival AI Assistants and Share Search Data

On July 16, 2026, the European Commission adopted two binding decisions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that reach deeper into Google's platform than any previous enforcement action. The orders require Google to open 11 Android features to rival AI assistants by August 2027 and share anonymized search data with competitors starting January 2027, with potential fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover for non-compliance . Here is what the decisions require, how they will be enforced, and the objections Google has raised.

The Two Binding Decisions

1. Android AI Interoperability (Article 6(7) DMA)

The first specification decision requires Google to give third-party AI assistants the same system-level access to Android that its own Gemini assistant currently enjoys. The order covers 11 Android capabilities grouped into five categories: invocation (custom wake words, long-press home-button and navigation-handle triggers, Circle to Search integration), context (centralized access to on-device app data, proactive suggestions), actions (app-launch hooks, background task execution), device resources (camera, microphone, screen content, notifications, location, contacts, SMS), and cross-app databases .

Timeline: Most changes must be implemented with the Android 18 release by August 1, 2027. Concurrent wake-word capability — allowing a rival assistant to be activated by voice even when the display is off — follows by August 1, 2028 with Android 19 .

Scope: The decision applies across the entire Android ecosystem, not just within the European Economic Area . Notably, the Commission stated the decision is not a finding that Google broke the law; it specifies what compliance with the DMA must look like going forward .

2. Search Data Sharing (Article 6(11) DMA)

The second decision requires Google to share anonymized ranking, query, click, and view data with eligible rival search engines and AI companies — including OpenAI — on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms .

Timeline: Data sharing begins January 2027 .

Safeguards: The Commission noted that Google can vet applicants for privacy or cybersecurity risks before granting access, and a formula for fair pricing is included in the order .

Penalty Regime

The standard DMA penalty framework applies to these decisions: fines of up to 10% of Google's global annual turnover for first-time non-compliance, and up to 20% for repeat infringements . The Commission also opened a separate proceeding that could impose periodic penalty payments for non-compliance with the specification measures. While the DMA generally allows periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of average daily worldwide turnover, no authoritative source — including the EU's official press release or major news coverage — confirms that the Commission invoked that specific 5% daily rate for these orders .

Context: These binding specification decisions follow a broader enforcement context. On July 2, 2026, the European Court of Justice upheld a €4.1 billion fine against Google for abusing Android's dominance through pre-installation and anti-fragmentation agreements . Separately, on the same day as the specification decisions, the Commission also imposed a separate record DMA fine — reported as "high hundreds of millions of euros" — for unrelated Google Search and Play Store violations .

Google's Key Objections

Google has pushed back forcefully against both decisions. Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, described the measures as a threat to "vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans" and said the Commission had discounted "extensive evidence of user harm" .

Privacy risks: Google argued that opening sensitive hardware access — camera, microphone, screen content — and app-launch hooks to third-party AI assistants would put user privacy at risk, since rival assistants would not be held to the same safety standards as Gemini .

Security concerns: The company warned that mandating system-level access could be exploited by malicious actors or poorly secured third-party AI services, potentially bypassing Android's hardware safety guardrails and compromising the device security model .

No equivalent safety guarantees: Google contended that unlike its own tightly controlled AI assistant, third-party services accessing the same deep OS hooks would not have equivalent safety, content-moderation, or data-handling commitments . The company specifically warned that requiring the operating system to treat taps and keystrokes from a third-party AI the same as a user's own input creates a new attack surface .

Procedural background: Google had exhausted its legal routes to delay the orders before the decisions were issued. A July 8, 2026 EU General Court ruling closed Google's last avenue to block the binding specification process, giving the Commission until July 27 to finalize the measures .

Why the EU Acted

The European Commission's stated rationale is that these measures "rebalance" the market by giving consumers genuine choice and preventing Google from using Android's dominant position — roughly 60% of European smartphones — to lock out competing AI assistants and search engines . Commissioner Teresa Ribera said the decision is designed to "help smaller competitors, search engines, or AI assistants, to compete and provide that choice, while protecting the user's privacy" .

The Commission emphasized that the changes can be implemented "without sacrificing safety or performance" and that anonymization of search data was built into the requirements .