The end of internet privacy: Europe hijacks American tech, and China benefits

Published July 24, 2026 8:00am ET



Some Google Search user in the European Union — call him Hans or Baptiste or Patrick — may soon find that intimate information about his life has arrived in the databases of the Chinese Communist Party.

This European may fastidiously maintain his data-privacy hygiene and use every prophylactic available to the everyday user — but to no avail. The European Commission last week determined that Google Search must convey search data to competitors. These data are to be granular and extensive.

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