Security1 publisher2 min readPublished
Google appeals the EU's search-data and Android order on privacy and security grounds
Google has appealed an EU DMA order that would make it share search data with rivals from January 2027 and open Android to rival AI services. Its case rests on user privacy and Android security, claims the EU's top court now has to weigh against a competition order.
The Watch · Security desk
What happened
- The European Commission issued the order in July under the Digital Markets Act, which applies to large platforms it designates as gatekeepers.
- The Commission says the shared search data is meant to give competing search engines the kind of data that helps improve their results.
- Brussels said it hoped the Android changes would lead to alternatives to Google's AI services, such as its Gemini chatbot.
- Google filed the appeal with the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, the bloc's highest court.
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Why it matters
- exposure If sharing goes ahead as ordered, queries typed by any EU organisation's staff become data held by rival search engines, on privacy terms Google is contesting in court.
- decision Teams managing Android fleets in the EU have to plan for rival AI services on those devices from July next year unless a court pauses the order.
- contradiction Google calls Android already open while the Commission ordered changes to create AI rivals, so the court has to decide whose account of Android's openness governs the remedy.
- precedent The ruling will set how much weight a gatekeeper's security and privacy arguments carry against a DMA interoperability order.
Nothing changes on an Android handset or in a search log this week [4][6]. The Commission set the Android changes for July next year [6]. It presents both measures as competition remedies under a law meant to give users more choice [12]. Its stated aim for the search data is to "rebalance the playing field" [4].
"We're appealing decisions that will force us to share people's private search history without sufficient anonymisation and weaken vital security protections on Android," said Oliver Bethell, Google's senior director for competition [3].
One half of that sentence is easier to test than the other. The search-data half describes a data flow: queries leaving Google for rival engines. Google says the order makes it hand that data to other firms without adequate anonymisation, user knowledge or consent [9]. Bethell described what those queries contain. "People use Search for their most personal questions, from medical worries to close relationships, and mandating we share these personal queries without adequate safeguards would cause irreversible harm to user privacy," he said [10].
The Android half is harder to rate. Google says Android is already open and interoperable [8]. It also says the order would weaken the platform's security protections [3]. Both statements hold only if the order requires access beyond what Android grants rival services now [8]. Google's statement, as reported, does not name the protections at risk or say whether the company asked the court to pause either date [1][3].
What to watch
- Any interim ruling from the Luxembourg court on suspending either obligation before the January 2027 start date.
- Publication of the anonymisation standard the Commission requires before query data reaches rival engines.
- A technical description, from Google or the Commission, of which Android security controls the July changes touch.