Google has asked the EU General Court to suspend the European Commission’s order on sharing Google Search data with rival search services, adding a request for interim relief to its legal challenge. The development matters for AI search competitors because a court-ordered pause could affect when they receive access to the data. It remains a request: the sources consulted for this article do not confirm that judges have granted a suspension.
Reuters reported the application on September 30, 2026, saying Google had also sought an interim measure at the Luxembourg-based court after challenging the Commission’s order. September 30 is the reporting date; it should not be treated as a verified filing date for the interim application.
A request to pause implementation
Google’s stated objection centres on privacy and security. According to Reuters, the company argues that the sharing requirement risks serious harm to European users’ privacy. The Commission says its measures account for security and the protection of personal data. These are the parties’ positions, rather than a judicial finding on the adequacy of the safeguards.
The application makes timing part of the dispute. Competitors planning around the sharing framework need to know both what data they can obtain and when it will become usable. A request for temporary relief adds uncertainty to that planning, but it does not establish that access has already been delayed by a court.
What the sharing order covers
The Commission adopted the binding specification measures on July 16. Its Search decision explicitly includes AI chatbots offering search functionality among eligible recipients. It also describes anonymisation safeguards and checks on cybersecurity and data-protection risks.
The Commission’s implementation guidance identifies ranking, query, click and view data as the relevant categories. It says the measures do not require disclosure of Google’s algorithms or technology. Access is subject to eligibility requirements, with the data intended for improving recipients’ online search services.
The guidance sets milestones through January 2027, including preparation of the anonymised dataset and finalisation of pricing. Those stages make the timetable commercially relevant: an announced right to access data and a working data supply are different points in a competitor’s development process.
Why discovery signals matter for AI search
For an AI service that searches the web, the challenge extends beyond generating a fluent answer. It must find relevant pages and decide which sources deserve attention. Query and interaction data could help eligible services improve that discovery process. That is the competitive opportunity at stake; access alone would not guarantee accurate answers or a successful rival to Google.
For publishers and SEO teams, the immediate news is procedural. There is no verified basis here for changing optimisation tactics in response to a suspension that has not been confirmed. The useful developments to watch are a ruling on interim relief, changes to the implementation timetable and evidence that eligible services are receiving usable data. Those developments would make the potential effect on search competition easier to assess.