The Japan Times - EU to show Google how to open up to rival AI services

The EU executive said it would launch proceedings to help Google prepare measures in line with its flagship rulebook, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Under the DMA, the world's biggest tech companies must open up to competition to give consumers more options and limit abuses linked to market dominance.

US President Donald Trump's government has railed against the law and its sister content moderation law the Digital Services Act, accusing Brussels of unfairly targeting US firms.

The European Commission wants to ensure Google gives rival AI service providers equal access to its Android operating system, and demands the American titan grants competing search engines access to search data.

Brussels believes the move will allow rivals "to optimise their services and offer users genuine alternatives to Google Search".

The EU step is not a formal investigation that could lead to fines.

But if Brussels is not satisfied with Google's efforts, it can later conclude the company is not complying.

And any DMA violations can lead to fines of up to 10 percent of a company's total global turnover.

"We want to help Google by explaining in more detail how it should comply with its interoperability and online search data sharing obligations under the Digital Markets Act," EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.

Google pushed back, insisting Android is open by design.

"We're already licensing search data to competitors under the DMA," Google's senior competition counsel Clare Kelly said in a statement.

"However, we are concerned that further rules which are often driven by competitor grievances rather than the interest of consumers, will compromise user privacy, security, and innovation."

The commission said it would conclude the proceedings within six months.

Google already faces a fine under the DMA for favouring its own services in a probe launched in March 2024.

The giant has also been subject to a separate DMA probe since November over suspicions it pushed down news outlets in search results.

The scrutiny does not end with the DMA. Google also faces cases under the bloc's competition rules.

In December, the EU said it had opened a probe to assess whether Google breached antitrust rules by using content put online by media and other publishers to train and provide AI services without appropriate compensation.

That came after the EU slapped Google with a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) fine in September for breaking competition rules.

S.Fujimoto--JT