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Europe is over and American Big Tech. Well, kind of. Since the start of President Donald Trump’s tumultuous second term last year, governments and concerned companies across the country have stepped up their efforts to solve their problems. relying heavily on technology from US companies.
Along with political information, the development of European home-grown technology, and millions of additional funds, WIRED’s analysis has documented. government information companies, governments, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions that are moving away from the US technology industry in favor of open or local solutions. Perhaps that is the tip of the iceberg.
“The aggressive rhetoric of the Trump administration, attacks on international law, as well as the EU and its democratic values, have led to a wave of protests,” said Marietje Schaake, a non-resident fellow at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and a former member of the European Parliament.
The trend is spreading—and growing. Last week, the European Commission set a long-term deadline plans less reliance on US technology. The European Parliament has said change search engine on its devices from Google to the French alternative Qwant. Thousands of workers in the French government they are using their own open source office software-called LaSuite – as officials want to “stop” relying on American companies. Open source documentation from more than a dozen European technology companies, called Euro Officeshould be started soon. Cities in the Netherlands, France, and Germany are all moving away from Microsoft Office and Google Docs
It’s not software development, either. The Dutch government is moving its code from Microsoft’s Github to its own his place. For several options, Finland he says decided not to move its data to Amazon’s cloud services, while Belgium’s .be top-level domain said it would. from AWS. Meanwhile, Eurosky it was designed as a means of communication Bluesky on the AT Protocol that underlies all social networks.
WIRED collected publicly known cases of European corporations leaving US Big Tech. (Click the arrows to scroll through the timeline of events below, or view this Google Sheets or a Proton papers).
Although many plans for a “digital empire” were in place before the start of Trump’s second term, what is often cited as driving the transition is the fall of the US. opposition sanctions officials affiliated with the International Criminal Court. (The court adjourned away from Microsoft technology).
A long list of other European concerns include governments and companies not controlling their data; changing international relations; dependence on technology from a few companies; access to data under the US CLOUD Act and FISA; and closer ties than ever between Big Tech companies and the Trump administration. “Citizens, companies, and organizations have the power to shape their digital future,” says Schaake. “Don’t get confused by the interests of billionaires and the policies of Trump.”
