France Moves to Drop US Tech From Official Government Systems

The French government plans to phase out U.S.-made video-conferencing tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams by 2027.

In a statement on Jan. 26, officials said the move is intended to end reliance on non-European technology.

The policy applies only to government bodies and public institutions, not to private citizens or businesses.

According to French authorities, the current patchwork of platforms, including Teams, Zoom, GoTo Meeting, and Webex, “weakens” data security, creates strategic dependencies on foreign infrastructure, and complicates cooperation between ministries.

The government added that relying on non-European providers exposes sensitive communications to legal, technical, and geopolitical risks beyond France’s control.

“This project is a concrete illustration of the Prime Minister’s and the Government’s determination to reclaim our digital independence,” said David Amiel, minister delegate for the civil service and state reform.

“We cannot take the risk of seeing our scientific exchanges, sensitive data and strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors.

“Digital sovereignty is both a necessity for our public services, an opportunity for our companies, and an insurance policy against future threats.”

France’s main state research body, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, will replace its Zoom licences with Visio by the end of March.

The move will affect about 34,000 staff members and roughly 120,000 affiliated researchers, making it one of the largest public-sector migrations to the new system so far.

Launched as a pilot project in 2025, Visio was developed under the oversight of France’s national cybersecurity authorities.

The platform is designed as a fully sovereign, end-to-end secure system, with hosting controlled within France. It also incorporates homegrown artificial intelligence features, including automated meeting transcription and, starting in 2026, real-time subtitles.

The project forms part of the Suite Numérique, a broader government effort to reduce dependence on proprietary foreign platforms and develop domestic alternatives for everyday digital work tools used by the public sector.

The concept of digital sovereignty has become increasingly central across the continent.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her Sept. 10 State of the Union address to signal the EU’s intent to reduce reliance on foreign technology firms and to play a stronger role in shaping global digital rules.

Von der Leyen also backed EU–INC at last week’s World Economic Forum conference, a proposal that would allow companies to incorporate and operate across the bloc under a single EU-wide legal framework, aimed at making it easier for European firms to scale and compete globally.

On Jan. 21, EU–INC said on X that this will “become the basis of all future trillion euro companies.”

EU politicians have backed “EuroStack,” a broad vision to rebuild Europe’s digital supply chain so that core technologies can operate independently of U.S. firms.

In a 2024 report on the future of European competitiveness, former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that digital technology was the main driver of the widening productivity gap between the EU and the United States.

Draghi said that Europe appeared set to fall further behind, noting that no EU company with a market capitalization of more than 100 billion euros ($161 billion) has been created from scratch in the past 50 years, while all six U.S. companies valued at more than $1 trillion emerged during the same period.

Under the Trump administration, relations among Washington, Brussels, and Silicon Valley have been strained over regulatory issues.

The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) establish a single regulatory framework across the bloc.

The DSA focuses on content moderation, user safety, and platform accountability, while the DMA seeks to curb the market power of large “gatekeeper” firms. Both apply to all companies that operate within the EU, regardless of their location.

U.S. officials have repeatedly criticized the legislation.

Last year, the Trump administration hinted at a potential showdown with Europe over big-tech regulation. Senior figures said that the EU’s rules amount to restrictions on free speech.