European governments are increasingly replacing digital tools from U.S. technology companies with domestic or open-source alternatives, citing concerns over data privacy, security, and digital independence.
In France, the government announced that 2.5 million civil servants will stop using video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and GoTo Meeting by 2027. They will instead adopt Visio, a video service developed in France. The goal is to phase out non-European solutions to protect public communication.
“We cannot risk having our scientific exchanges, our sensitive data, and our strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors,” said David Amiel, a minister for the civil service.
Microsoft said it continues to work closely with the French government and emphasized its focus on data protection and maintaining services in line with European privacy laws. Zoom, Webex, and GoTo Meeting did not comment.
A similar shift is underway across Europe. Austria’s military is now using LibreOffice, an open-source software suite, after ending use of Microsoft Office. Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein state last year moved 44,000 employee emails from Microsoft to a free email platform and switched to open-source file sharing. The state is also evaluating a full transition to Linux and other non-proprietary systems.
The city of Lyon, France, is deploying free office software to replace Microsoft tools. Denmark’s government and its cities, including Copenhagen and Aarhus, are also testing open-source programs.
Digital Minister Caroline Stage Olsen of Denmark said on LinkedIn that depending on a few foreign suppliers risks limiting governments’ ability to act freely.
According to the nonprofit Document Foundation, based in Germany, interest in LibreOffice has grown as institutions aim to avoid vendor lock-in. Initially adopted to reduce licensing costs, the appeal has shifted toward data and vendor independence.
Europe’s push for digital sovereignty has gained momentum amid concerns about reliance on U.S. companies and geopolitical uncertainty. The term resurfaced prominently following Microsoft’s disconnection of the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor’s email after the prosecutor was sanctioned by the Trump administration in 2023. Microsoft said it maintained communication with the court throughout the process and did not suspend overall services.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s technology sovereignty official, said Europe’s dependence on non-European providers could be used against it.
U.S. cloud companies have responded by establishing “sovereign cloud” services, hosting data in Europe with access restricted to European Union residents, to comply with data privacy and security demands.
Nick Reiners, a geopolitical analyst at the Eurasia Group, said, “There’s a real zeitgeist shift now that we need to de-risk from U.S. tech.”
Efforts by the European Union to regulate large tech companies have included antitrust fines and digital market rules, but concerns persist over their continued dominance.
Officials have also raised questions about using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service for Ukraine, adding to broader discussions about dependency on individual private providers.
Long-standing debates over data transfers between the U.S. and EU were reignited by Edward Snowden’s disclosures of American surveillance activities. With most services now hosted in the cloud, European authorities remain concerned about control over sensitive information shared across borders.
