The European Union has issued a formal order requiring Google to open its Android platform to competing artificial intelligence services. This directive, issued under the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), aims to foster greater choice for consumers by ensuring that alternatives to Google Search and AI tools like Gemini can effectively operate on the operating system. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen stated that these measures are intended to cultivate emerging competition, noting that users should be able to select their preferred AI chatbot for voice commands, similar to the existing "Hey Google" functionality.
The move has met with sharp resistance from Google. Kent Walker, the company’s head of global affairs, warned that the requirements threaten to undermine essential privacy and security guardrails for millions of European users. Walker argued that AI assistants already possess access to Android and cautioned that mandating the sharing of search data would expose private user queries to unfamiliar third-party companies without adequate anonymisation or user consent. In response, a senior European official maintained that the EU has taken security and privacy into the utmost account, asserting that the new decision ensures the proper anonymisation of all shared search data.
These legally binding measures stem from a procedure initiated in January. While they do not constitute a formal investigation that could result in immediate fines, Google remains under significant regulatory pressure. Sources close to the matter suggest that the EU may impose a fine as early as next week in a separate investigation related to the DMA. Under the act, the European Union holds the authority to levy fines reaching up to 10 percent of a company’s total global turnover for violations.
The DMA has been strongly criticised by US President Donald Trump's administration, which accuses Brussels of unfairly targeting American companies.
Brussels hit the company with fines worth a total of 8.2 billion euros between 2017 and 2019 under different competition rules.
