Europeans Shift Away from U.S. Tech in Digital Sovereignty Push

Following President Trump’s second inauguration, Europeans are increasingly abandoning U.S. tech platforms over political concerns and data privacy fears. Berlin’s Topio charity reports rising demand for Android builds that remove Google services. Similarweb data shows European searches for non-U.S. email, messaging and search tools climbing: Ecosia’s EU queries rose 27% year-on-year, and ProtonMail usage grew 11.7% through March while Gmail fell 1.9%. Users cite U.S. surveillance laws, renewed tariffs and high-profile tech leaders at Trump’s inauguration as catalysts. This consumer shift underpins a broader “digital sovereignty” drive: EU governments are mandating open-source software, local cloud services and alternative satellite internet. However, a full break is impractical—European services still rely on U.S. infrastructure and search results from Google or Bing. Experts believe the challenge to Silicon Valley dominance will remain limited.