EU forces Google to open Android under Digital Markets Act

This article was published on July 16, 2026 The EU has ordered Google to open Android to rival AI assistants and to share its search data with competitors, under the Digital Markets Act. Google will have to let rival AI assistants run on Android the way its own Gemini does. It must also hand some of its search data to competitors. The European Commission set out both requirements on Thursday. The two decisions fall under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Commission said. The law forces “gatekeeper” platforms to give rivals access comparable to their own. They are binding specification measures, not fines, and spell out what Google must do. “We hope to see emerging alternatives to Google Search and Google’s AI services, such as Gemini,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s tech chief. Users in the EU should enjoy greater choice, she added. The first decision covers AI assistants. Today, the Commission said, non-Google assistants get only restricted access to key Android features. That holds them back with the 60% of EU users on Android. Google will have to let users pick a preferred assistant and wake it by voice, as they do with Gemini. Those assistants must also be able to