https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/07/digital-vassals-french-government-exposes-citizens-data-to-us/ * News * Comment * Video * Events [ ] * News + Migration Pact + Ukraine War + Freedom of Speech + Green Deal + EU Elections Week * About Us * Contact Us The French Senate slams the French governement and public services deepening reliance on American tech giants, warning of a looming "sovereignty suicide". Getty News 16 July 2025 Digital vassals? French Government 'exposes citizens' data to US' Anne-Laure Dufeal Share * * * * France's deepening reliance on US tech giants is raising alarms about digital sovereignty and exposing public data to foreign jurisdictions. In a French Senate report on economic and digital sovereignty, Senators accused the French State of "political fault". That was in regard to outsourcing essential data infrastructure to US companies subject to US extraterritorial laws, including Microsoft, despite repeated warnings and alternatives. "France is subject to US extraterritorial law," the report stated, warning that public data, including from health, education and critical sectors, was exposed to foreign surveillance under US legislation such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD). This legislation allowed the US Government to demand that companies subject to US law disclose the data they stored, simply by obtaining a judge's authorisation. The Senate report cited Microsoft France's legal director, Anton Carniaux, as admitting the company could not guarantee that French data it hosted would not be handed over to foreign authorities. "Carniaux ... was asked by the [French Senate] commission to guarantee that French citizens' data hosted by Microsoft would never be transmitted to foreign authorities without the agreement of the French authorities. He replied: 'No, I can't guarantee that,'" the report stated. US tech giant Microsoft presented new plans promising to improve the European cloud customers' data protection. https://t.co/ lkX1ysk1vy -- Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 18, 2025 In March 2025, the Ministry of Education signed a EUR74 million deal with a US company for equipping its departments and universities. The country's elite school for engineers, Ecole Polytechnique, also decided earlier this year to move the school's IT system to Microsoft. That was done despite earlier instructions from the French Government urging school districts to avoid deploying Microsoft or Google collaborative tools due to sovereignty risks. The CNLL (National Council for Free Software) warned that "legal, technical, and strategic risks are being deliberately ignored." Speaking with Brussels Signal on July 16, French MP Philippe Latombe blames France's "bureaucratic inertia". "There is no real connection between political leaders and French civil servants, who think they will remain in their posts indefinitely. This creates bureaucratic inertia. They secured early contracts easily because they have always been there, which leads to habitual reliance by public buyers," he said. In their report, the French Senate accused the government of systematically discrediting European alternatives, claiming they were "too costly" or "not efficient enough". "The commission of inquiry found that European solutions were systematically denigrated by the government, wrongly judged to be too costly or inefficient," the report read. For Latombe, France needs to move beyond price, and consider other factors like the fact that French companies contribute to the national social system, such as social security contributions, taxes. French MP Philippe Latombe has urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to suspend the US-EU Data Privacy Framework before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office. https://t.co/ni5C4rYxxW -- Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 15, 2024 In November last year, Latombe criticised the US-EU Data Privacy Framework (DPF) deal, saying it no longer served EU interests due to the US president's "impulsive" nature. The DPF was designed to make it easier for companies to transfer personal data such as names, addresses and browsing history from the EU to the US. Another striking example comes from the cybersecurity sector. In early 2025, the French cybersecurity firm VADE merged with Germany's Hornet Security, forming what appeared to be a promising EU-based leader in international cloud security. However, just a year later, in March 2025, US company Proofpoint acquired the entire Hornetsecurity Group. "As a result, there is no longer a fully French solution in this strategic sector", denounced Latombe. Tech giant Meta has snubbed a 'cease and desist' request from the European digital rights watchdog over their use of personal data to train AI systems. https://t.co/tvtJr51KkD -- Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 15, 2025 While France deepened its digital dependency, other European nations have been pushing back. In June 2025, Denmark's Minister for Digitalisation, Caroline Stage Olsen, announced a full pivot away from Microsoft, replacing it with LibreOffice, a Berlin-based open-source alternative. Citing concerns over financial cost, market dominance and political tension with Washington, Denmark's two largest cities, Copenhagen and Aarhus, had already begun ditching Microsoft earlier this year. EC is run by bureaucrats who believe the market should remain fully open, with no preference for national or EU suppliers Although this shift marked a growing European movement toward technological emancipation, a 2025 report by Asteres painted a bleak picture of the overall situation. Europe sends EUR265 billion a year straight to US companies, fuelling almost 2 million jobs in the US. Meanwhile, Europe was left economically dependent, digitally exposed and strategically weak. "If 15 per cent of that spending stayed in Europe by 2035, it would create over 500,000 jobs here," the Senate report estimated. The Asteres report warned: "If the US ever threatens to cut Europe off from its cloud services, it would hold extraordinary leverage to impose its commercial conditions." When it comes to digital sovereignty, the European Commission is seen as the main obstacle, despite growing support among Member States. "Germany and the Netherlands have understood that something must be done, and the European Parliament is also on board. But the European Commission is resistant: it is run by bureaucrats who believe the market should remain fully open, with no preference for national or EU suppliers," Latombe said. "Europe is lagging and is letting itself be overtaken. Ironically, Trump's blunt and aggressive approach had the positive effect of waking Europe up, even if it's still not enough," he added. On June 11, 2025, the European Parliament published a report on the European Union's technological sovereignty and digital infrastructure, warning that the EU remains heavily reliant on foreign technologies. The report shows that US companies hold approximately 69 per cent of the cloud infrastructure market share in Europe, while EU suppliers hold only 13 per cent. The report also highlighted that 92 per cent of the West's data is stored in the United States, on infrastructure owned and operated by American firms. US lawmakers have accused the European Commission of weaponising its "regulatory regime" to "silence American speech" online. https://t.co/8w63AUQrwJ -- Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 4, 2025 * data * digital rules * European Union * France * Microsoft * United States What to read next News 25 Jun 2025 France's left-wing bigwig wants French language renamed to reflect its 'creole roots' Anne-Laure Dufeal News 21 May 2025 French Senate accuses government of cover up in Nestle water scandal Anne-Laure Dufeal News 19 May 2025 France justice minister under fire for 'penal colony' in French Guiana Anne-Laure Dufeal News 13 May 2025 French left-wing leader blames 'political police' for detention of US streamer Hasan Piker Anne-Laure Dufeal Sections * News * Comment * Video * Events Let's Connect The latest newsletter, delivered to your inbox every week. Follow Us * * * * About * Privacy * Cookie Policy * Corrections and Updates (c) 2025 Remedia Europe Designed by Interconnect. Powered by Standfirst. Manage Cookie Consent To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Functional [ ] Functional Always active The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Preferences [ ] Preferences The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Statistics [ ] Statistics The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Marketing [ ] Marketing The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes Accept Deny View preferences Save preferences View preferences {title} {title} {title} Manage consent