Users in the European Union will be able to prevent Google services from sharing their data across different services if they do not wish to share their data. Google and five other large technology companies must comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act by March 6, which requires that they and their users have more control over how their data is used among other things.
On a support page (via Android Authority), a list of Google services that EU users can keep linked or unlinked is detailed. There are several different services offered by Google, including Search, Google Shopping, Google Maps, Google Play, YouTube, Chrome, and Ad services. In Europe, users can keep the entire set-up connected (as they are today), have none of them connected, or keep just some of them linked together.
Although Google does not have an official policy about sharing user data, it will continue to share the information with others when it is necessary for a task to be completed, such as complying with the law, stopping fraud, or preventing abuse.
In addition to the changes on interoperability and competition required of Google by the DMA, which goes into effect on March 6th, the company will also have to make some other adjustments to comply with the new law.
The DMA has made many changes to Big Tech, but not all are on board. Despite Google's decision not to appeal its gatekeeper status, Apple, Meta, and TikTok owner ByteDance have all taken legal action against the status.
In addition to the EU, several other governments have questioned Google's vast amounts of user data. As part of the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit in the United States, Google may be the largest antitrust case brought in the country since Microsoft in the 1990s, which was likely the first case of its kind.
According to the DOJ, one of the arguments it made during the trial established the fact that the sheer amount of data Google had accumulated over the years was what led to it creating a "data fortress" that helped ensure it remained the leading search engine in the world.
A user can experience some of the features of some of the aforementioned Google services that will not be available if they choose to unlink them. It was stated that reservations made through Google Search would no longer appear in Google Maps, and search recommendations would become less relevant after Google unlinked YouTube, Google Search, and Chrome.
Even so, the company emphasized that parts of a service that do not involve the sharing of data would not suffer. The good news is that EU users will have the ability to manage their linked services at any time from the Google account settings pages of their Google account.
In the Data & Privacy page of users's account settings, they will find a new section entitled "Linked Google Services", which will list options for using Google services in addition to the ones they are already using.
A user has the final say on whether or not they want to unlink, and it is ultimately up to them. Even though a user might lose some features, he/she will have more control over how he/she uses his/her data within the Google ecosystem as a result of this change.
There are many other purposes beyond data sharing that the DMA covers. Aside from that, it also restricts Google's ability to offer the best search results, which will make it easier for competitors to compete fairly on the search results page.
The DMA has become an official part of Google's marketing strategy, although other tech giants such as Apple, Meta, and TikTok are challenging it in the courts. In the past, Google tried to force users to centralize all of their personal information under a single Google + identity.
Despite this, Google eventually backtracked and killed its Google+ platform, and this was a reaction to the significant pushback it received from users. Although the DMA will only apply to users in Europe, it is nevertheless a positive change for those who care about maintaining their privacy and sharing their data. Additionally, Microsoft and Apple will also be obliged to modify their platforms by the EU's DMA in March 2015 as a result of the DMA.
