"The entanglement of tech and politics has become impossible to ignore - especially in the United States, where the lines between Silicon Valley and Washington are rapidly dissolving. At President Trump's inauguration, the CEOs of Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet took prominent seats - even ahead of cabinet nominees - an unmistakable sign of how closely US tech giants are now intertwined with national policy agendas. Just days earlier, outgoing President Biden had warned of a rising "tech industrial complex.""
"This isn't just symbolism. It reflects a broader shift: US tech firms are aligning themselves with a domestic industrial strategy that treats cloud, AI, and digital infrastructure as tools of geopolitical power. For Europe, the implications are becoming harder to ignore. France's AI and digital minister has since of digital "predators" undermining European autonomy. In Germany, government agencies have started phasing out Microsoft Teams in favour of domestic collaboration tools. And in Denmark, a nationwide migration to open-source Linux systems is underway."
"The majority of government services, healthcare systems, and private sector infrastructure run on platforms controlled by Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google. This reliance has become so entrenched that it has long gone unnoticed - until now. Consider the US CLOUD Act, which gives American authorities the right to access data stored on US-owned servers, even if that data resides in Europe."
US tech firms and political power have merged, elevating cloud, AI, and digital infrastructure into instruments of geopolitical strategy. High-profile ties between Silicon Valley and Washington exemplify this alignment and prompt European concern. Several European governments are pursuing alternatives: France has warned of digital threats to autonomy, Germany is replacing Microsoft Teams with domestic tools, and Denmark is migrating to open-source Linux. Europe relies heavily on Microsoft, AWS, and Google for critical services, creating exposure under the US CLOUD Act and a contradiction with EU privacy regimes. A digital sovereignty movement is emerging as a strategic imperative.
Read at TNW | Data-Security
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