Google Tests DMA-Compliant Search Changes: What It Means for Your Privacy

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For over two decades, Google has controlled what you see when you search the internet. That's about to change. According to a Reuters exclusive published on February 25, 2026, Google is now actively testing changes to its search results to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).

On the surface, this looks like an antitrust story. The EU tells Big Tech to play fair, Google reshuffles some search results, business as usual. But dig deeper and the implications for your privacy are far more significant than most headlines suggest.

Because the DMA doesn't just regulate competition. It fundamentally limits how much data companies like Google can collect about you, how they can combine it across services, and how hard they have to work to keep you locked into their ecosystem.

What Is the Digital Markets Act?

The Digital Markets Act is the EU's landmark regulation targeting Big Tech monopolies. It came into full effect in March 2024 and designates certain companies as "gatekeepers", platforms so dominant that other businesses and users have no real alternative.

Six companies have been designated as gatekeepers:

The rules are strict. Gatekeepers must allow users to choose default apps and services freely. They must give third-party businesses fair access to their platforms. And critically for privacy: they cannot combine personal data across their services without explicit consent.

What Google Is Testing

Reuters reports that Google is testing changes to how search results are displayed for EU users. The tests focus on several key areas:

• More visibility for competitor services. Comparison shopping sites, travel aggregators, and local review platforms could get more prominent placement in search results
• Less self-preferencing. Google's own products like Google Shopping, Google Maps, Google Hotels, and Google Flights may be displayed less prominently or labeled differently in search results
• Clearer separation. Google's own services must be visually distinguishable from organic search results, making it obvious when Google is promoting its own products
• User choice screens. EU users may be presented with more options to choose alternative search engines and default browsers

This isn't Google's first brush with EU antitrust regulators. In 2017, the European Commission fined Google 2.42 billion euros for favoring its own shopping comparison service. In 2018, another 4.34 billion euros for Android anti-competitive practices. And in 2019, 1.49 billion euros for abusing dominance in online advertising. That's over 8 billion euros in fines, and yet Google's market behavior barely changed.

The DMA is designed to be different. Instead of fining companies after the fact, it sets clear rules that gatekeepers must follow proactively. And the penalties for non-compliance are staggering: up to 10% of global annual turnover, which for Alphabet could mean $35 billion or more.

The Privacy Angle: Why Search Monopoly = Data Monopoly

Here's what most coverage of the DMA misses. Google's search monopoly isn't just a competition problem. It's a privacy problem.

Consider what happens every time you use Google Search:

1. Google records your search query
2. Google records which result you click
3. If you're signed in, this is linked to your Google account (Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Android)
4. If you're not signed in, Google still tracks you via cookies, device fingerprinting, and your IP address
5. This data feeds Google's advertising profile, which follows you across the entire internet via Google Ads

Google processes over 8.5 billion searches per day. In Europe, Google holds approximately 92% of the search engine market. That means nearly every question a European citizen asks online, from health symptoms to financial problems to political interests, flows through a single company's servers.

How the DMA Limits Google's Data Collection

The DMA includes several provisions that directly affect your privacy:

Google's Track Record: Malicious Compliance

If you've followed Google's regulatory history, you'll know that the company has a pattern of implementing the letter of the law while violating its spirit.

After the 2018 Android antitrust ruling, Google was required to offer EU users a choice of search engines during phone setup. Their solution? A choice screen auction where competing search engines had to pay Google for the privilege of being shown as an alternative. Privacy-focused engines like DuckDuckGo and Startpage, which don't have Google's advertising revenue, were at an inherent disadvantage.

After sustained criticism, Google eventually dropped the auction model in 2021 and switched to a free choice screen. But the damage was done: years of users defaulting to Google because alternatives weren't meaningfully presented.

The question now is whether Google's DMA search result changes will be genuine or another case of malicious compliance: technically following the rules while finding creative ways to undermine their intent.

What the DMA Means for You Right Now

If you're in the EU, the DMA is already changing your digital experience. Here's what you should have noticed, and what's coming next:

Changes Already Live

• Browser and search engine choice screens on new Android and iOS devices
• Uninstallable pre-installed apps on Android (including some Google apps)
• Alternative app stores on iOS (Epic Games Store, AltStore)
• Consent popups for cross-service data use (Google's "consent or pay" model)
• WhatsApp interoperability with other messaging services

Changes Being Tested or Coming Soon

• Revised Google Search results with less self-preferencing (the Reuters report)
• Apple opening NFC to competing mobile payment services
• Meta allowing cross-platform messaging between Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and third-party apps

How to Take Advantage of the DMA for Better Privacy

The DMA gives you more choices than ever before. Here's how to use them to improve your privacy:

Switch Your Default Search Engine

You don't have to use Google Search. Every search you move away from Google is one less data point in their advertising profile. Privacy-focused alternatives:

• DuckDuckGo - No tracking, no personalized results, based on Bing results
• Startpage - Google results without the tracking (Dutch company!)
• Brave Search - Independent search index, no tracking
• Qwant - French privacy-focused search engine

Decline Cross-Service Data Sharing

When Google asks for consent to combine data across Search, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps, decline. Each service still works fine without sharing data between them. Google may present "personalization" as a benefit, but it's primarily about building a more complete advertising profile.

Use Alternative Browsers

Chrome is the biggest data pipeline Google has outside of Search. Every page you visit in Chrome can be tracked. Alternatives:

• Firefox - Open-source, strong privacy protections, customizable
• Brave - Built-in ad blocker and tracker blocker
• Safari - Strong Intelligent Tracking Prevention on Apple devices

Check What Google Knows About You

Google is required to provide access to your data. Visit myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy to see your activity history, delete stored data, and turn off tracking features like Web & App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History.

The "Brussels Effect": Could This Go Global?

The EU has a track record of setting global standards. GDPR, passed in 2016, inspired privacy laws in Brazil (LGPD), California (CCPA/CPRA), India (DPDPA), and dozens of other jurisdictions. The same "Brussels Effect" could happen with the DMA.

Japan, South Korea, and the UK are already developing their own digital markets regulations inspired by the DMA. The US Department of Justice is pursuing its own antitrust case against Google, which could lead to similar structural remedies.

If Google implements genuine changes to comply with the DMA, it might be more cost-effective to roll those changes out globally rather than maintaining separate search experiences for different regions. That would mean EU regulation improving search competition for everyone.

But there's also a risk. Google could do the bare minimum in the EU while keeping its preferential treatment of its own products everywhere else. If that happens, EU users would get a fairer internet while the rest of the world stays locked into Google's ecosystem.

The Skeptic's View: Will It Actually Work?

Not everyone is convinced the DMA will deliver meaningful change. There are legitimate concerns:

• Google has years of practice at complying with regulations in ways that look good on paper but change little in practice
• Testing isn't implementing. Google is "testing" changes, which means they could test for months or years before rolling anything out
• User habits are sticky. Even with choice screens, most people stick with the default. If Google Search is what people know, they'll keep using it
• Enforcement is slow. The European Commission has limited resources to monitor compliance across all designated gatekeepers and all their services
• "Consent or pay" loopholes. Meta already offers a "consent or pay" model where users either accept tracking or pay a subscription. Google could adopt similar approaches

The DMA's true test will be whether it produces measurable changes in market share and data collection practices, not just changes in how search results look.

Common Questions

What is the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA)?

The DMA is an EU regulation targeting "gatekeeper" companies (Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance). It sets rules about fair competition, interoperability, and user choice. The goal is to prevent Big Tech from abusing their dominant positions to crush competitors and lock in users. It came into full effect in March 2024.

What changes is Google testing for search results?

According to Reuters, Google is testing changes that give more visibility to competitor services (comparison sites, travel aggregators), reduce the prominence of Google's own products in search results, and make it clearer when Google is promoting its own services versus showing organic results.

How does the DMA affect my privacy?

The DMA requires gatekeepers to get explicit consent before combining personal data across services. Google can no longer automatically merge your Search, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps data into a unified advertising profile. It also gives you more choice in default apps and browsers, and requires explicit consent for cross-site tracking.

What happens if Google doesn't comply?

The European Commission can fine non-compliant gatekeepers up to 10% of worldwide annual turnover (up to 20% for repeated violations). For Alphabet, that could mean fines of $35-70 billion. The Commission can also order structural remedies, including forced sale of business units.

Will search results change outside the EU?

The DMA only applies in the EU. However, similar laws are being developed in Japan, South Korea, the UK, and other countries. Google may choose to implement changes globally rather than maintaining separate systems. This "Brussels Effect" previously happened with GDPR, which influenced privacy laws worldwide.

Conclusion

Google testing DMA-compliant search changes is more than an antitrust footnote. It's a signal that the era of unchecked Big Tech dominance in Europe is ending, slowly but surely.

For privacy, the stakes are high. Google's search monopoly is the engine that powers the world's largest advertising surveillance network. Every crack in that monopoly is a win for user privacy. More competition means more alternatives that don't track everything you do. More choice means less default data flowing to a single company.

Key takeaways:

• Google is actively testing changes to EU search results under the Digital Markets Act
• The DMA targets "gatekeepers" and prohibits self-preferencing and cross-service data combination without consent
• Google has been fined over 8 billion euros in EU antitrust cases, but behavior barely changed until now
• The DMA introduces penalties of up to 10-20% of global revenue, making non-compliance existentially expensive
• Privacy-focused search alternatives (DuckDuckGo, Startpage, Brave Search) benefit from increased visibility
• Users should actively use their new rights: decline cross-service data sharing, choose alternative defaults, check their Google data
• The "Brussels Effect" could make these changes global over time

The DMA won't fix everything overnight. But for the first time, there's a regulatory framework with real teeth that targets the core of Big Tech's business model: your data. Use the choices it gives you.

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