Overview
- Brussels launched specification proceedings under the Digital Markets Act to spell out how Google must grant third-party AI services Gemini-level access to Android features and share anonymized search data on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
- The European Commission plans preliminary findings within about three months and a final conclusion within six months, with potential escalation to a formal probe if required.
- The UK Competition and Markets Authority opened a consultation proposing site-level opt-outs from AI Overviews and from training external models, obligations for fair ranking, and choice screens on Android and Chrome; feedback closes on February 25.
- Google says Android is open by design and that it already licenses search data under the DMA, warning new rules could harm privacy, security and innovation, while noting it is exploring additional publisher controls such as specific opt-outs and Google-Extended.
- These steps add to ongoing EU scrutiny of Google’s self-preferencing, treatment of news results, and use of publisher content for AI, as publishers report traffic losses linked to AI summaries.