The European Commission wants Google to share search engine data with competing search engines and AI chatbots, but Google says it will fight tooth and nail to prevent this.
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EU pushes Google to share search data with rivals to boost competition.
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Proposal would extend access to AI chatbots, signaling growing AI-search overlap.
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Google warns plan risks user privacy and calls it regulatory overreach.
“The aim of the measures is to allow third-party online search engines, or ‘data beneficiaries,’ to optimize their search services and contest Google Search’s position,” the European Commission says in a press release published on April 16th.
According to the Commission’s proposed measures, Google should allow rival search engine providers access to its search data, such as ranking, query, click, and view data.
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Google should then share that information with competitors in fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms. They can then optimize their services to better compete with Google Search.
AI chatbots with search functionalities should also receive these metrics from Google, the European Commission argues. Personal data must be anonymized.
“Data is a key input for online search and for developing new services, including AI. Access to this data should not be restricted in ways that could harm competition,” Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, said in a statement.
“Search engines must be able to innovate and keep pace with evolving user needs. Our work to create opportunities in this sector continues and comes at a crucial moment of growing interconnection with AI services,” Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, adds to her colleague’s statement.
However, Google isn’t going to simply roll over and comply. The Mountain View-based tech company argues that the Commission’s measures are “overreach” and would jeopardize users’ privacy.
“Hundreds of millions of Europeans trust Google with their most sensitive searches, including private questions about their health, family, and finances, and the Commission’s proposal would force us to hand this data over to third parties, with dangerously ineffective privacy protections,” Google’s Senior Competition Counsel Clare Kelly said in response to Reuters.
The European Commission’s proposals aren’t final. Stakeholders have until May 1st to submit their views on the proposed measures through a public consultation. The executive branch of the EU will adopt its final decision by July 27th.
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