Alphabet is once again under the EU’s regulatory microscope. On Thursday, a group of six civil society and digital rights organizations filed a new antitrust complaint, alleging the company is falling short of its obligations under the Digital Markets Act.
At the heart of the complaint is a familiar accusation: that Alphabet isn’t giving users enough control over the software baked into its Android operating system.
This latest complaint adds to the broader regulatory pressure Alphabet is facing in Europe, particularly around how it handles user choice and competition.
Europe’s Digital Markets Act
The Digital Markets Act, now in force for two years, was designed to curb the kind of dominant behavior regulators believe distorts fair competition.
Among other things, it requires major platforms, labeled as “gatekeepers,” to stop bundling apps by default and to make it easy for users to remove software they don’t want.
At its core, the Digital Markets Act is meant to limit how much control large platforms can exert over users and competitors.
It bans tactics like ranking a company’s own services above others in search results and makes it harder to lock people into pre-installed apps.
One requirement is simple but important: users must be able to remove default apps without digging through menus.
The law also stops platforms from linking personal data across different services unless users explicitly allow it.
Violations aren’t just a PR problem. The EU can fine companies up to 10% of their global revenue. For firms like Alphabet, that’s not pocket change.
Unlike older antitrust laws, which often step in after the fact, the DMA tries to prevent abuse before it starts.
What Brussels is really trying to do here is shift power away from the gatekeepers and toward users, smaller businesses, and the broader market.
Google vs European authorities
Alphabet is also contending with a separate antitrust complaint, this one coming from independent publishers across Europe.
Filed in early July, the case focuses on Google’s AI Overviews, those AI-generated blurbs that now appear at the top of search results in more than 100 countries.
The publishers say Google is lifting material from their sites without permission and giving users everything they need to know right there in the search box with no click-through required.
Things got even more heated in May 2024, when Google started putting ads inside its AI-generated answers. That crossed a line for many publishers.
They say Google is using their content to make money without permission, without credit, and without sending people to their sites.
For smaller newsrooms already stretched thin, it’s not just frustrating. It’s a direct hit to their bottom line.
Google has defended its approach, arguing that AI Overviews improve the search experience and help send more meaningful traffic to publishers.
But many in the industry remain unconvinced. Several outlets report continued drops in site visits and ad revenue, and say that whatever “quality” these visits bring, they don’t make up for the overall loss in visibility.
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