Tech sovereignty is the new buzzword in Europe as the scale of the continent\u2019s dependence on U.S. tech companies dawns upon its leaders.\u00a0Europeans are worried that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has exploited trade and defense dependencies, may weaponize tech next\u2014 threatening to disrupt or cut off digital services, for example\u2014to extract concessions. None of the researchers, European officials, and experts that Foreign Policy spoke with deemed that possibility to be overly far-fetched.<\/p>\n
The European Union has thus begun its tech decoupling from the United States. It will take time, money, and consistent cooperation by EU members who are often split\u2014which means the outcome remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
Tech sovereignty is the new buzzword in Europe as the scale of the continent\u2019s dependence on U.S. tech companies dawns upon its leaders.\u00a0Europeans are worried that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has exploited trade and defense dependencies, may weaponize tech next\u2014 threatening to disrupt or cut off digital services, for example\u2014to extract concessions. None of the researchers, European officials, and experts that Foreign Policy spoke with deemed that possibility to be overly far-fetched.<\/p>\n
The European Union has thus begun its tech decoupling from the United States. It will take time, money, and consistent cooperation by EU members who are often split\u2014which means the outcome remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
There are three different strands to Europe\u2019s tech decoupling: the creation of an attractive European social media alternative, where debate can be held freely without bots and manipulative algorithms; support for domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips; and the creation of sovereign cloud services that offer computing resources\u00a0such as physical data storage infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Amazon, Google, and Microsoft currently fulfill more than\u00a0two-thirds<\/a> of Europe\u2019s cloud computing needs. Most of the continent\u2019s advanced chips come from U.S. companies like Nvidia, and the social media platforms that most Europeans use are also based in the United States. That includes X, which is owned by Elon Musk, who has called for the EU to be\u00a0abolished<\/a> and openly amplifies Europe\u2019s far-right voices.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need tech sovereignty to take our destiny in our own hands,\u201d said Thomas Regnier, a spokesperson for the European Commission. Regnier is often the person who deals with difficult questions on how the EU plans to protect children from addictive social media and European democracy from algorithmic manipulation.<\/p>\n Regnier said the EU\u2019s flagship Digital Services Act (DSA) has put an end to the \u201cwild, wild west online.\u201d FP has learned that many countries, including South Korea and India, have discussed digital regulations aligned\u00a0with the DSA to regulate social media companies. But while it\u2019s a matter of pride for Eurocrats like Regnier, the law has\u00a0opened a new front line between the EU and the U.S. government, with the latter\u00a0often supporting X.<\/p>\n The EU has launched several investigations against X under the DSA. These have dealt with allegations about deceptive blue check marks, which offer public verification to anyone who pays\u2014even those with false identities; a lack of advertisement transparency, which European regulators believe is necessary to ascertain if content is authentic or sponsored; and a failure to share relevant information with researchers on systemic risks, such as algorithm manipulation to boost certain types of political content.<\/p>\n Last December, the EU imposed a fine of 120 million euros (approximately $140 million) on X for\u00a0breaching its obligations\u00a0under the DSA.\u00a0One expert described that as pocket change for Musk, but his company is indignant. X recently challenged the fine and accused the regulators of \u201can incomplete and superficial investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n David Chavalarias, a French academic and researcher, said that the denial of access to researchers like him was a part of the reason why authorities fined X.\u00a0 \u201cEU law says\u00a0academia should be able to access when working on systemic risks that threaten our society and democracy due to the design of the platform,\u201d Chavalarias said, adding, \u201cThat is not to say the error is intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n In solidarity with Musk, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said<\/a>\u00a0that the European Commission\u2019s fine \u201cisn\u2019t just an attack on X,\u201d but \u201con all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.\u201d\u00a0And in further assurance to a private company, he added, \u201cThe days of censoring Americans online are over.\u201d<\/p>\n Regnier\u00a0was at pains to explain that the DSA was not targeting X or any other U.S. tech firm specifically. His cautious tone, however, is a part of European strategy:\u00a0an attempt to avoid\u00a0open conflict before having achieved a semblance of technological independence.<\/p>\n In January, a new investigation<\/a> was ordered under the DSA after X\u2019s chatbot, Grok, allowed users to strip\u00a0images of women without consent and of children. Grok\u2019s response has done little to assuage the EU\u2019s concerns. \u201cThey have replied to us and limited the service to premium subscribers,\u201d Regnier said. \u201cChild sex abuse, including digital undressing of women without their consent, is not a premium privilege. We have told them that this is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n The recent scandal has unnerved Europeans already seeking an age majority to reduce the impact of social media on children.\u00a0In January, France\u2019s National Assembly approved a bill that would ban social media use for children under 15 years old; the bill now needs approval from the French Senate. Earlier this month, Spain announced plans to ban social media for children under 16 years old. Several European countries are mulling doing the same, as well.<\/p>\n \u201cEnough is enough. The ongoing Grok scandal \u2013 which has seen a wave of images of child sexual abuse material, and image-based sexual violence against women, published on X \u2013 is a disgrace,\u201d according to a\u00a0letter<\/a> signed by 51 EU legislators.\u00a0\u201cNow is the moment to back European alternatives to the dominant social media platforms.\u201d The letter called on the\u00a0European Commission and European governments to support European social media innovation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must also make sure that Europeans have portability rights that are not a burden on them but on the gatekeepers \u2013 so they can move their content and data easily to another platform and are never again locked-in to one platform and vulnerable to harm,\u201d the letter continued.<\/p>\n Alexandra Geese, an EU lawmaker with the Green party and a signatory on the letter, said that the EU was finding it difficult to enforce its laws on big U.S. tech companies because of the U.S. government. \u201cTrump has become a lobbyist for Big Tech,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a result, what we have is Trump threatening tariffs on countries, on our industry. [U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick threatened tariffs on steel, [U.S. Vice President] J.D. Vance threatened to pull troops out of NATO if the EU enforced its digital law.\u201d In such an environment, Geese argued, the EU must at least offer seed money to domestic innovators.<\/p>\n At this year\u2019s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a new social media platform called W was launched. But W\u2019s CEO, Anna Zeiter, said all investment thus far was private, dismissing reports that said the project was funded by the EU.\u00a0\u201cOur goal is to build a platform like the old Twitter,\u201d she said. \u201cA global platform made in Europe, owned by Europeans, to make sure our data is stored in Europe, especially at a time of geopolitical tensions. We have no backdoor with U.S. law enforcement.\u201d She added that verification via a passport and other IDs will root out bots and create a genuine \u201cEuropean market square.\u201d<\/p>\n It remains to be seen whether W is successful in being a European alternative to X, especially since others before it have struggled to compete. Mastodon, formed by Eugen Rochko, a German software developer, is a free, nonprofit, and open-source social media site that is crowdfunded and does not harvest data.\u00a0According\u00a0to Rochko<\/a>, Trump\u2019s\u00a0Truth Social platform is built with Mastodon\u2019s open-source software.<\/p>\n Mastodon, however, lags far behind X in terms of users and is seen as an echo chamber, lacking diversity of views.\u00a0\u201cMastodon doesn\u2019t want a business model,\u201d Geese said. \u201cBut we need sites that are also able to attract users\u201d to move from X.<\/p>\n Chavalarias said that for alternatives to succeed, a critical mass of people needs to join. But since X doesn\u2019t\u00a0allow its users to move with their communities, most prefer to stay where they are. \u201cIf X wants to operate in the EU, it must allow users to move to other sites with their data and audience as stated by EU law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n