Google appeals EU data sharing, says DMA degrades search quality

Image credit: Abondance

BRUSSELS — Google senior vice president Nick Fox said hundreds of changes mandated by the European Union‘s Digital Markets Act have degraded search quality in Europe, prompting the company to appeal data sharing requirements.

Fox, Google’s senior vice president for Knowledge & Information, said the regulatory changes had notably worsened search results, particularly by forcing the company to reduce anti-spam protections against reputation abuse.

Google filed an appeal on Sept. 29, 2026, with the General Court of the European Union, challenging an obligation to share search data set to take effect in January 2027.

The company argued that requiring it to share search queries with competitors constituted a “massive violation” of European privacy due to the sensitive nature of the data and associated security risks.

Fox also disputed studies suggesting a decline in user clicks due to features like AI Overviews, asserting that users “still click a lot” and that most searches had become longer and more in-depth.

Google has removed several features in Europe because of the DMA, including product price displays, direct links to Google Maps for routes, hotel date filters and real-time flight prices.

Oliver Bethell, Google’s senior director of competition, confirmed the company was appealing decisions that would mandate sharing user search history without sufficient anonymization.

Bethell added that Google was also challenging measures that would weaken Android security protections.

Source: Abondance