Google uneasy as EU steps in to support AI and search competitors

BRUSSELS, Jan 27 – Google, owned by Alphabet, is facing fresh pressure in Europe after the European Union said it will guide the tech giant on how to share parts of its services with rival search engines and artificial intelligence developers. The move also includes access to Google’s Gemini AI models, according to the European Commission.

For years, Google has been under fire from competitors who believe its massive size and influence give it an unfair edge. Many of those rivals are now putting their hopes in the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law designed to limit the power of Big Tech. Google, however, strongly disagrees with these claims and says it plays fair.

EU technology chief Henna Virkkunen said the new proceedings under the DMA are meant to make sure other search engines and AI companies can use Google’s search data and Android operating system on the same terms as Google’s own products, such as Google Search and Gemini.
The goal, she explained, is equal treatment — no favorites.

The announcement appears to have made Google uneasy. The European Commission, which enforces competition rules in the EU, confirmed it has opened two formal proceedings after talks with Google about how the company plans to follow the DMA rules. The law is meant to stop powerful tech firms from dominating markets and shutting out smaller players.

Google responded by stressing that it is already making efforts to comply.
“Android is open by design, and we are already licensing Search data to competitors under the DMA,” said Clare Kelly, Google’s Senior Competition Counsel.

Still, she warned that Google is worried about where this could lead. She said new rules, often pushed by competitors rather than consumer needs, could harm user privacy, weaken security, and slow down innovation — things Google says it deeply cares about.

One of the EU proceedings will clearly outline how Google must give third-party AI companies access to the same tools and features it offers its own AI services, including Gemini. This is meant to ensure smaller AI developers are not left behind in a fast-moving industry.

The second proceeding focuses on search data. Regulators will explain how Google should share anonymised data — such as rankings, search queries, clicks, and views — with rival search engines. The data must be shared under fair and equal conditions. The EU will also decide whether AI chatbot developers can access this information.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the bigger picture is about fairness and opportunity.
“We want to unlock the full potential of this major technological change,” she said, “by making sure the market is open and fair — not shaped only by the biggest and most powerful companies.”

Behind the legal language and regulations, the message is clear: Europe wants innovation to grow, but not at the cost of competition, trust, or balance.