Brussels tells Google to hand rivals its search crown jewels as privacy row brews

Brussels has told Google to open up its search data and give rivals equal footing on its own platforms, sketching out how it expects the tech giant to comply with the bloc's competition rulebook.

In preliminary findings under the Digital Markets Act, the European Commission outlined proposed measures that would force Google to hand over key search data – including rankings, queries, clicks, and views – to rivals on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.

The aim is straightforward enough: give competing search engines, and even AI chatbots with search features, access to the kind of data they need to build services capable of taking on Google Search, rather than being locked out from the start.

"Today's decision sets out the specifications we expect Google to follow to comply with its obligations under the Digital Markets Act. Data is a key input for online search and for developing new services, including ...