Google Challenges EU Mandate to Share Search History Data

Google has officially appealed to the European Union against the Digital Markets Act (DMA) mandate requiring it to share search history data with competitors. The company said that it will force users to share their private search history without sufficient anonymization, which would weaken vital security protections on Android.

In June, Google was mandated to allow users to port their search data to authorized third parties, such as rewards platforms or companies offering personalized offers or discount codes.

Google filed appeals with the General Court of the European Union against decisions that gave it a January 2027 deadline to share search data and a July 2027 deadline to make changes on Android. The company can be fined up to 10% of its annual global revenue, or up to 20% for repeated infringements.

Nick Fox, SVP of Knowledge & Information at Google, stated that the DMA will cause a massive violation of European privacy and noted that the data would typically not go to European companies. He also highlighted the risk of hacking and cybersecurity breaches when user queries are shared outside of Google's secure data centers.