The European Commission has granted Google additional time to revise a proposal aimed at resolving a competition dispute under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), with regulators saying the company's current offer does not go far enough to address their concerns.
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed the extension at a daily news conference in Brussels on Friday, saying Google is engaging constructively but that its proposed remedy falls short.
The dispute centres on one of the DMA's most consequential provisions: the requirement that Google share search data, including anonymised ranking, query, click and view data, with rival search engines and, under the Commission's latest interpretation, with AI chatbot providers whose services perform functions equivalent to search.
The Digital Markets Act, which came into force in 2023, is the European Union's landmark competition framework for large technology companies. It designates firms such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta as "gatekeepers" and imposes a set of obligations designed to prevent them from using their dominant market positions to lock out competitors.
Google was designated as a gatekeeper across several of its services, including its search engine, Android operating system and Chrome browser.
In January 2026, the Commission opened two sets of specification proceedings against Google. The first requires the company to provide third-party developers, including rival AI services such as those made by Anthropic and OpenAI, with effective access to features on Android that Google currently reserves for its own Gemini AI assistant. The second requires Google to share search engine data with competitors on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
In April, the Commission sent Google preliminary findings outlining proposed measures for the search data obligation. These would require Google to make an application programming interface (API) available to third parties, sharing data at the same frequency Google accesses it internally, for a minimum of five years.
The Commission also broadened the scope of which companies qualify as recipients. By treating AI chatbots as functional equivalents of search engines, regulators signalled that the data-sharing obligation extends beyond traditional search rivals such as DuckDuckGo or Bing to include AI-powered services that answer user queries by drawing on web data, a category that encompasses virtually every major large language model provider.
Google has pushed back, arguing that the interpretation exceeds the intended scope of the regulation and risks forcing the company to hand over commercially sensitive data that underpins both its search and AI businesses. The US Trade Representative has separately raised concerns that the DMA disproportionately targets American firms.
The Commission has charged Google with breaching the DMA and is in the process of finalising its decision, which could include a fine of up to 10% of Google's global annual revenue, or 20% for repeat offences. A final determination is expected by 27 July 2026.
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Google's inability to satisfy regulators with its initial proposal means the company must now produce a stronger offer within the extended window. The stakes are significant: if the Commission concludes that Google has not adequately addressed the preliminary findings, it could impose both a financial penalty and binding remedies that would reshape how the company operates its search and AI businesses across the 27-member bloc.
The case is being watched closely by the broader technology industry because the outcome will establish a precedent for how data-sharing obligations under the DMA apply to artificial intelligence, a question that was not explicitly contemplated when the legislation was drafted but has become central to its enforcement as AI services have grown to rival traditional search in scale and commercial importance.
The recap
- European Commission gives Google extra time to revise proposal.
- Commission charged Google with breaching the Digital Markets Act.
- Final decision could include a fine; Commission is finalising.
