The trade threats from Donald Trump have reminded Europe of how reliant it is on American technologies. While alternatives to products from the Gafam (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) exist, moving away from them is expected to be a slow and thoughtful process. Since January, Trump has repeatedly highlighted the fragility of European autonomy, using threats like the potential annexation of Greenland (which is under Danish control), commercial pressures, and sanctions. One notable example is French judge Nicolas Guillou, who was sanctioned by the United States in August 2025 after authorizing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Since then, Guillou has been barred from entering the United States and has lost access to parts of his digital life, including the ability to use credit cards or access services from US-based platforms like Amazon, Netflix, or Airbnb. In response, Paris and Brussels have accelerated efforts to achieve "digital sovereignty," focusing on both parliamentary inquiries and broader European plans. Recently, the finance committee approved an amendment to increase taxes on major web companies, though it remains uncertain whether this will be passed by Parliament. The balance of power still largely favors the United States, as seen in late June when Trump threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that tax US digital services. At the same time, he forced the AI startup Anthropic to suspend access for foreign users to its most powerful AI models for nearly three weeks, citing "national security" concerns. The inquiry commission on France's digital dependencies, which ran from February to July 2026, concluded that European reliance on US technology is deep-rooted. It starts with infrastructure, such as semiconductors and computers, of which Europe has almost no domestic manufacturers. Then come software and cloud services, which are essential for storing and processing data. Even the French government is not immune, with several ministries, including the justice department, using Microsoft Office 365. Some data is stored there without the protections that should be in place. "The difficulty is structural," says Lorraine de Montenay, an expert in responsible digital. "When a tool is widely used, it becomes almost unavoidable. Digital naturally favors monopolies due to network effects, making it easy to join platforms but hard to leave." The Framasoft association, which focuses on free software, has been a leader in moving away from Gafam services. Since 2014, it has worked to reduce its dependence on US-based tools, inspired by the revelations from former US intelligence worker Edward Snowden about mass surveillance. At that time, Framasoft was still using Gmail, Google lists, and Google Forms. Recognizing the risks, it launched the "Degoogle Internet" campaign to identify the most common web services and offer free alternatives, such as Framaforms for creating questionnaires, PeerTube as a YouTube alternative, and Framapad for collaborative writing. Today, Framasoft estimates it has 2.5 million users. For Gaël Duval, founder of Murena, which develops a mobile operating system to escape Android (developed by Google), the issue is not just privacy but also sovereignty. He notes that seeing people suddenly cut off from American services due to sanctions highlights a form of geopolitical risk that was once unimaginable. This concern is increasingly driving the market, with Murena on track to double its revenue compared to the previous year. A similar trend is seen at Mailo, a French email service that multiplied its revenue by four when Trump threatened to annex Greenland. The company stores its data with a 100% French cloud host to avoid American legal jurisdiction. Lorraine de Montenay warns that the physical location of a data center is not enough if the company managing it is American, as it can still be subject to American law. Sovereignty, she argues, requires knowing who controls the data, who can access it, and under what legal framework it is protected. Environmental concerns are also part of the discussion. Cyrielle Chatelain, a rapporteur on digital dependencies, points out that the expansion of Gafam services increases electricity and water consumption in their data centers. "Their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are not being met, and in some cases, emissions are even increasing due to the massive deployment of data centers, sometimes powered by fossil fuels," she notes. Chatelain argues that dependence starts early, in schools, where students learn to use Microsoft Word and Google Search, but not a broad range of digital tools. She advocates for a "zero Microsoft" goal in schools, emphasizing the need for a gradual transition. This includes changing search engines or email providers and ensuring data portability and service interoperability, allowing users to retrieve and transfer data freely. "It probably took an electric shock to measure the need to take back control of our destiny," says Gaël Duval. However, he acknowledges that this is a long-term project, likely spanning fifteen to twenty years.