DuckDuckGo asked the European Commission on November 20, 2024, to widen its investigation of Google’s compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It alleged that Google limited rivals’ access to useful search data, made default-search switching too difficult and gave too few Android users a lasting choice. Those were allegations, not findings of infringement.
By July 2026, the Commission had adopted binding measures on anonymised Google Search data and Android interoperability, and fined Google €890 million for two separate DMA breaches. The later decisions address some of the competitive problems DuckDuckGo highlighted, but they do not automatically prove every claim about choice-screen design or switching.
What DuckDuckGo asked the EU to investigate
DuckDuckGo’s November 2024 submission focused on three parts of Google’s search distribution and data practices. TechCrunch reported the allegations and the responses from Google and the Commission in its November 20, 2024 report.
1. Search data that rivals could not use effectively
Article 6(11) of the DMA requires designated search engines to give eligible rival search engines access to certain anonymised ranking, query, click and view data on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The dispute was therefore not whether Google shared any data, but whether the scope, anonymisation method and licensing conditions made the access commercially meaningful.
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DuckDuckGo said Google’s European Search Dataset Licensing Program excluded most long-tail queries. It pointed to a threshold requiring a query to have been searched more than 30 times over 13 months by 30 separately signed-in users, and claimed that this could exclude roughly 99% of queries. That percentage was DuckDuckGo’s estimate, not an independently established Commission finding. Long-tail searches matter because they reveal the unusual, specialised and less frequently searched terms that help a smaller engine improve relevance beyond the most popular queries.
2. Choice screens that did not make switching easy
DuckDuckGo argued that Google’s search-engine and browser choice screens did not satisfy the DMA’s requirement that users be able to switch easily. Its public-affairs executive said changing the default search engine on Android could still require more than 15 steps, whereas a practical “easy switch” should put an alternative provider roughly one click away.
That complaint covers several separate questions:
- Initial selection: whether a user sees a provider list and can choose an alternative.
- Default persistence: whether the selection remains active instead of reverting elsewhere.
- Later switching: whether changing providers requires a long settings path.
- Coverage: how many devices and users actually receive the screen.
- Placement: whether it appears during device setup, in Chrome, in Android settings or only in a particular context.
DuckDuckGo said searches arriving through Chrome rose 75% after Chrome’s choice screen was rolled out across the European Economic Area. It said Android’s effect was more limited because fewer users saw the screen and the selected setting was not sufficiently permanent. Both figures were DuckDuckGo’s reported results, not Commission measurements.
3. Android and Chrome defaults are different mechanisms
A device-level Android choice, Chrome’s address-bar default, Google Search settings, search widgets, voice features and search inside Google apps are not the same control. A user may select a rival in one place while Google remains the default in another. Choice screens also predate the DMA in part: the Commission had already required changes to Android search-choice arrangements after its earlier competition case dating to 2018.
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Google’s response
Google said it had made substantial DMA changes, redesigned parts of Search and introduced more options for European users and businesses. In its November 26, 2024 compliance update, Google said it had made more than 20 changes to Search, including formats intended to increase the visibility of comparison sites.
Google also argued that broader access to search information raises privacy and security risks because queries can disclose health, financial, political or other sensitive interests. It said DMA compliance should not require removing useful Search features or preventing product innovation, and warned that some proposed remedies could reduce consumer utility and direct traffic to businesses that depend on Search. Those are Google’s defenses and policy arguments, not proof that its arrangements complied with the DMA.
How the Commission’s actions developed
| Date | Action | What it covered |
|---|---|---|
| March 25, 2024 | DMA investigation | Whether Google favored its own vertical-search or content services over comparable rivals. |
| January 27, 2026 | Search-data specification proceedings | How Google should operationalise Article 6(11), rather than leaving the obligation at a general level. |
| April 16–May 1, 2026 | Public consultation | Proposed measures for rival search engines and AI chatbots offering search functionality. |
| July 16, 2026 | Binding measures | Controlled Search-data access and greater Android interoperability for competing AI assistants. |
| July 23, 2026 | €890 million in fines | €460 million for Search self-preferencing and €430 million for Google Play anti-steering. |
The Commission’s background on the Search case is described in its March 19, 2025 preliminary findings. The separate data-access process is set out in the Commission’s Article 6(11) proceedings page and its 2026 consultation.
What the July 16, 2026 data decision changes
The Commission’s July 16 decision requires Google to make specified anonymised Search data available to eligible rival search providers, including AI chatbots that offer search functionality. It sets rules for eligibility, the categories of data, anonymisation, security and data-protection checks, pricing methodology and a transparent access process. The same decision requires greater access for competing AI assistants to Android capabilities. The Commission said Android devices account for approximately 60% of EU users.
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This is not a blanket release of raw search histories. Access is controlled and subject to anonymisation, security safeguards and eligibility conditions. The policy challenge is to provide enough query, click, view and ranking information to help rivals improve while reducing the risk that individuals can be identified or sensitive searches reconstructed.
What the €890 million fine means—and does not mean
€460 million: Search self-preferencing
On July 23, 2026, the Commission fined Google €460 million after finding that Google Search gave preferential prominence to Google’s own shopping, hotel, transport and sports services compared with comparable rivals. This directly supports the Commission’s broader scrutiny of Google’s treatment of competing services, but it is not a final finding that every choice-screen or data-licensing allegation made by DuckDuckGo was proven.
€430 million: Google Play anti-steering
The additional €430 million concerned restrictions on app developers’ ability to direct users to alternative purchasing channels through Google Play. It was a separate DMA breach and was not central to DuckDuckGo’s 2024 search complaint.
The Commission’s announcement is available in its July 23, 2026 decision summary.
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Which DuckDuckGo claims have been established?
| Issue | DuckDuckGo’s position | Commission status by August 18, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Search-data usefulness | Google’s dataset was too narrow to help rivals, especially for long-tail queries. | Binding measures were adopted to make Article 6(11) access more defined and usable, with safeguards. |
| Privacy limits | Google’s restrictions made data access commercially weak. | The Commission retained anonymisation, security and data-protection requirements. |
| Choice-screen visibility | Too few Android users saw the screen. | No cited source establishes a final Commission finding on this specific allegation. |
| Switching friction | Android switching could require more than 15 steps and choices were not persistent enough. | No cited source establishes a final Commission finding on this specific allegation. |
| Search self-preferencing | Google’s treatment of its own services disadvantaged rivals. | The Commission found a DMA breach and imposed a €460 million fine. |
| Google Play steering | Not a central part of the 2024 complaint. | The Commission found a separate breach and imposed a €430 million fine. |
What remains unresolved
Is switching genuinely easy?
A compliant choice screen must be judged across the full journey: initial selection, persistence, reversibility and access from every relevant Google-controlled surface. A one-time prompt does not answer whether the same provider remains active in Chrome, widgets, voice search, Android settings and emerging AI interfaces.
Can smaller rivals afford and use the data?
Eligibility and anonymisation may protect users, but a dataset can still be too aggregated to improve ranking. Pricing and contractual terms also matter to smaller providers. Data access does not substitute for distribution through device defaults, browser placement, widgets, voice interfaces, advertising scale and user familiarity.
How will AI change the definition of search?
The July 2026 measures expressly include eligible AI chatbots with search functionality. That expands the practical importance of Article 6(11), while leaving implementation questions about how data is used in answer-generation systems and how Android interoperability works in everyday products.
Why this matters to users and businesses
- Users: More durable defaults and easier switching could make alternative engines more visible, while expanded data sharing must avoid exposing sensitive searches.
- Search competitors: Better access to anonymised query and click signals could improve relevance, but distribution remains a separate barrier.
- Publishers and comparison sites: Changes to Search presentation can alter referral traffic, visibility and the balance between Google-owned units and independent services.
- Retailers, hotels and travel businesses: Self-preferencing remedies may affect how prominently their services appear beside Google’s own offerings.
- App developers: The separate Play anti-steering decision concerns whether developers can tell users about alternative payment channels.
- AI providers: Android interoperability and access to defined Search data may reduce some platform and information asymmetries, subject to the Commission’s safeguards.
Bottom line
DuckDuckGo’s November 2024 call was a request for wider investigation, not a legal ruling that Google had violated the DMA. The Commission’s 2026 actions show that several underlying competition questions became formal enforcement priorities: Search-data access, Android interoperability and Search self-preferencing. They also show why the issues must be kept separate. The €890 million fine proves two specific DMA breaches, while the evidence available here does not establish that Google’s choice-screen design or every detail of its data-licensing program violated the law.
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