Google Appeals EU Orders to Share Data with AI Competitors Under DMA

Alphabet's Google has launched a legal challenge against two European Union orders compelling it to share search data and other services with artificial intelligence rivals. The company argues that the mandates, issued under the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), pose a significant threat to user privacy and security.

The Legal Challenge

Google lodged its appeals on Monday with the General Court in Luxembourg, Europe's second-highest court. The challenge targets two specific requirements imposed by EU antitrust regulators in July as part of their enforcement of the DMA.

The orders would force Google to:

• Assist rival AI developers, such as OpenAI, in utilizing services that are available to its own Gemini AI model.
• Provide competing search engines with access to its vast trove of user search data.

These measures, which are scheduled to take effect next year, are designed to foster competition in the digital sector by preventing large tech platforms from leveraging their dominance.

Citing 'Irreversible Harm' to Users

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Google contends that complying with the directives would cause "irreversible damage" to European users by weakening essential privacy and security safeguards. The company's primary concern is the potential exposure of sensitive personal information.

"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 of competition, in a statement. He added that users trust search engines with their most personal questions and that sharing such queries without adequate protection would be a major privacy violation.

DMA's Reach Tested

The legal action marks a significant escalation in the ongoing friction between major tech companies and EU regulators over the scope and implementation of the Digital Markets Act. The outcome of this appeal could set a key precedent for how far regulators can go to re-engineer competitive dynamics in the tech industry.

The European Commission, which enforces the DMA, has pushed back on Google's claims, stating that both measures include "strong safeguards" to protect user privacy, device integrity, and overall security.