European Alternatives to US Tech Tools Gain Attention Amid Dependence Concerns
A survey cited by Proton found most respondents in the UK, Germany and France view their societies as overly reliant on US technology firms.
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AfroEuropa desk
Reliance on American technology across European businesses spans everyday functions, from email and cloud infrastructure to analytics, messaging, document sharing and the artificial intelligence tools staff use routinely, according to EU-Startups.
Proton research published in February 2026 and cited by the outlet found that 73% of people surveyed in the UK, Germany and France consider their societies too dependent on US technology companies. Among those respondents, 83% said they were concerned about that dependence.
EU-Startups noted that identifying a genuinely European alternative is more complicated than locating a firm with a European address. A company may be founded in Europe yet incorporated elsewhere, a product hosted in the EU may be owned by a non-European firm, and a European software-as-a-service provider can still rely heavily on American cloud infrastructure, payment systems or AI models. The outlet also pointed out that Switzerland, Norway and the UK are part of Europe but not members of the EU, each with distinct legal frameworks.
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