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Under Article 6(11) of the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google must give eligible third-party online search providers access on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to anonymised ranking, query, click and view data from free and paid Google Search. The European Commission adopted binding measures specifying how that access should work on 16 July 2026. The requirement covers search data—not Google’s search algorithm—and some AI chatbots may qualify if they provide search functionality and meet the Commission’s eligibility and safeguard requirements.
What Google must share under the DMA
Article 6(11) sets the underlying obligation. The Commission’s 16 July 2026 specification describes the data Google must make accessible as anonymised information generated by end users in relation to both free and paid Google Search. The stated principle is to share the data Google collects and uses to optimise its own search services, with changes needed to protect privacy.
| Data category | What it can include | How it is handled |
|---|---|---|
| Queries | Queries entered at Google Search access points, with metadata such as language and device type | Account details and precise timestamps are removed; rare or unusually long queries are suppressed, and metadata such as location is generalised. |
| Ranking | Information about the position of search results | Shared in anonymised form to help recipients develop their own ranking and retrieval systems. |
| Clicks and interactions | Users’ interactions with search results | Interactions are transformed or aggregated; interaction durations, for example, are aggregated. |
| Views | URLs viewed in connection with search | URLs for paid results are removed. |
These categories are not a complete, identifiable record of every person’s searches. The Commission’s specification describes transformations and exclusions as part of the shared dataset.
Does Google have to share its search algorithm?
No. The Commission says its measures do not require Google to share its algorithms or technology. The data is intended to help competing providers develop their own search technology, not to hand them Google’s underlying ranking system.
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Who can receive the data, including AI chatbots?
The eligible class is providers of third-party online search engines. The Commission says an AI chatbot can qualify when it offers search functionality, but being an AI company or chatbot is not enough on its own.
According to the Commission’s specification FAQ, a prospective recipient must meet applicable criteria that include:
- Operating a search service and demonstrating genuine economic activity in the EU or qualifying as a credible new entrant.
- Having at least 50,000 monthly average users of that search service in the EU over the preceding year, subject to the Commission’s stated criteria.
- Meeting restrictions concerning sanctions and specified security risks.
- Processing data in the European Economic Area (EEA), or ensuring essentially equivalent protection when data is transferred outside it.
- Passing independent verification before access and meeting ongoing audit requirements.
The Commission’s published criteria do not establish that any particular company has been approved. Eligibility depends on the service and the provider’s compliance with the applicable requirements.
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What recipients may—and may not—do with the data
Recipients may use the data to develop and optimise their own search services. The Commission gives examples including improving query understanding, spelling and related-query suggestions, ranking and retrieval, indexing, and grounding search-enabled AI answers in current web information.
The permitted purpose is limited to search. The Commission says recipients may not use the data to train general-purpose AI models, improve unrelated products such as consumer profiling or advertising, or systematically copy Google’s results instead of building their own search technology. Onward disclosure and attempts to re-identify people are also prohibited under the safeguards.
How the privacy protections work
The Commission describes anonymisation as a combination of removing or transforming information that could identify users. Measures include removing direct identifiers such as usernames and IP addresses, excluding precise timestamps, suppressing records with rare terms or unusually long queries, and generalising metadata.
For the described combination of location, device type and query language, the Commission specifies groups of at least 1,000 users; its FAQ says 95% of users will be in groups of at least 25,000. These are specifications reported by the Commission, not independent measurements of re-identification risk.
Technical anonymisation is supplemented by recipient vetting, secure handling, purpose restrictions, retention limits, governance requirements and independent audits. The Commission describes an audit before access, a first compliance audit within six months of sharing, and annual audits after that. It also says it will monitor the approach and review the measures every two years.
Anonymisation does not mean that no personal data can appear anywhere in the resulting dataset. The Commission notes that a query can reveal personal information about someone other than the person who submitted it—for example, a search for a person’s name. GDPR obligations can therefore still apply to that other person’s data, and recipient search providers act as controllers for it.
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How access timing and pricing are specified
The Commission says Google must exclude invalid traffic and provide data with a method and latency aligned with its own internal use to the greatest technically feasible extent. Access must have a minimum latency of seven days, so the obligation is not a real-time feed. Each beneficiary can choose an access period of up to five years.
Pricing must be FRAND—fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. The Commission’s formula starts with incremental costs incurred to provide access, plus a reasonable return on capital specifically needed for that purpose; that return is capped by Alphabet’s weighted average cost of capital. In exceptional cases, an additional margin may be justified, subject to a ceiling tied to Google Search’s operating margin. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are exempt from that additional-margin provision.
Cost categories identified by the Commission include preparing and formatting data, storage specifically needed for sharing, dissemination and transmission, onboarding, and operating access tools. A beneficiary’s actual price can depend on how fixed and variable costs are allocated. The Commission’s FAQ set a deadline for a final pricing offer within six months of the 16 July 2026 decision—by January 2027. That is a stated deadline, not confirmation that the offer has already been made.
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How this differs from Android AI interoperability
The search-data obligation is separate from Article 6(7) of the DMA. Under Article 6(7), Google must provide free and effective interoperability with hardware and software features controlled by Android. The Commission adopted a separate specification on 16 July 2026 covering 11 Android features relevant to AI services.
The Android measures concern capabilities such as choosing a third-party assistant by voice, allowing it to act across apps, and enabling contextual functions. Access is subject to user-consent protections. They address how AI services can interoperate with Android, not what search data Google must share under Article 6(11).
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