An Unusual Alliance Over EU Android Regulation
Apple and Google, long-standing rivals in mobile platforms and services, are presenting a united front against new EU Android regulation tied to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The European Commission has drafted measures that would require Google to grant third‑party AI services the same level of access to Android that its own Gemini assistant enjoys. That includes deep integration with core functions like sending emails, ordering food, and sharing photos via Android apps. Regulators say the goal is to ensure AI competition on smart devices by opening key interfaces and data pathways to external providers. Google has pushed back, warning that the proposals could weaken the Android privacy and security architecture and increase implementation costs. Apple has now formally backed those concerns, amplifying the stakes of a regulatory battle that could shape how AI services operate on mobile devices.
What the EU Wants: Deeper Access and More Data for AI Rivals
The draft measures are designed to enforce the DMA’s promise of fair competition by curbing what regulators see as gatekeeper power. For Android, that means giving external AI assistants “the same level of access” Google’s Gemini currently has, so competing services can plug directly into apps that handle sensitive tasks like communications, food delivery, and photo sharing. The Commission also wants Google to share anonymized ranking, query, click, and view data from its search service with rival search engines to help them improve their own AI and search products. Officials argue that such access will keep the AI market open, spur innovation, and prevent a single platform from controlling key AI interfaces. In effect, regulators are trying to rebalance data and integration advantages that have historically favored built‑in services over independent AI providers.
Apple and Google’s Privacy and Security Objections
Both Apple and Google frame their opposition in terms of Android privacy and security rather than pure market power. Google’s counsel has argued that the proposed requirements would undermine “critical privacy and security for European users,” because opening up deep system hooks and app‑level controls to any qualified third‑party AI broadens the attack surface. Apple echoes that assessment in its formal submission, warning that the draft measures create “profound risks for user privacy, security, and safety as well as device integrity and performance.” The company stresses that those risks are amplified by the “rapidly evolving” nature of AI systems, whose capabilities and behaviors remain unpredictable. From their perspective, forcing open and largely symmetrical access for external AI services weakens carefully calibrated platform safeguards and could expose users to misuse of personal data, unintended system behaviors, or new security vulnerabilities.
A Challenge to Regulators’ Technical Judgement
Beyond privacy and security, Apple is directly questioning the European Commission’s technical role in reshaping Android. In its feedback, the company says the Commission is effectively “substituting judgments made by Google’s engineers for its own judgment based on less than three months of work.” It criticizes what it describes as a guiding value of “open and unfettered access,” arguing that such a principle is too blunt for complex operating systems that must balance openness with protection. This line of attack suggests a deeper concern: that regulators are moving from setting high‑level rules to micromanaging technical architecture. For platform owners, that raises fears of fragmented, less secure systems and precedent‑setting interventions that could later apply to their own products. Apple openly acknowledges it has a strong interest, as it is also under DMA scrutiny over app distribution and platform openness.
What This Reveals About AI Governance and Platform Control
The alignment between Apple and Google over EU tech regulation on AI highlights a central industry anxiety: losing control over data flows and platform design in the name of competition. Both companies are simultaneously building out their own AI ecosystems—Google with Gemini, Apple with its planned Apple Intelligence features and support for rival models like Google Gemini or Anthropic’s Claude—while seeking to keep tight control over how external services plug into their systems. Their privacy and security arguments resonate with genuine risks around unpredictable AI behavior and sensitive user data, but they also protect incumbents’ strategic positions. For regulators, the challenge is to craft AI governance that ensures real openness and data access without degrading safety or ceding technical choices entirely to platform owners. The current standoff over Android access is an early test of how that balance will be struck.