{"id":101373,"date":"2026-02-24T23:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/895281175"},"modified":"2026-02-24T23:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:12:22","slug":"military-leaders-warn-european-war-on-american-big-tech-comes-with-real-security-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/military-leaders-warn-european-war-on-american-big-tech-comes-with-real-security-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Military Leaders Warn European War on American Big Tech Comes With Real Security Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content prose dark:prose-invert lg:prose-xl prose-main dark:prose-main\">\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s foreign policies toward Europe, including tariffs and talks of taking over Greenland, have helped fuel calls among European leaders for greater independence from U.S.-based technology.<\/p>\n<p>But military officials are warning the continent is already too dependent on American firms to cut ties overnight, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/0f7f7aa7-af4e-4ea6-82da-5f8c719982fe\">Financial Times reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"not-prose my-8 -mx-5 xs:max-w-xs xs:mx-auto\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not realistic or helpful,\u201d an unnamed European military official told the FT about tech sovereignty talks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of our European platforms are relying on American back-end\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009so it\u2019s very difficult to see anything happening in the short-term. It\u2019s just not possible,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"od-wrapper od-wrapper-both od-background\"> <\/div>\n<p>European militaries rely heavily on U.S. systems and infrastructure for everything from satellite and command-and-control networks to secure communications, intelligence gathering, and data storage. Military officials argue that potential laws that restrict the use of American technology could inadvertently weaken the continent\u2019s security, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>Such laws could create capability gaps, fragment military operations and cybersecurity, and weaken intelligence-gathering efforts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"od-wrapper od-wrapper-both od-background\"> <\/div>\n<p>Still, a growing number of European politicians are pushing for laws that strengthen homegrown technology and reduce reliance on U.S. providers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this new geopolitical environment, Europe has to become a geopolitical power,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron said at the <a href=\"https:\/\/uk.diplomatie.gouv.fr\/en\/europe-has-become-geopolitical-power-says-president\">Munich Security Conference<\/a> earlier this month. \u201cIt\u2019s ongoing, but we have to accelerate and clearly deliver all the components of a geopolitical power, in defence, in technology, and in the derisking vis-\u00e0-vis all the big powers in order to be much more independent.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"od-wrapper od-wrapper-both od-background\"> <\/div>\n<p>The push is already producing concrete policy changes. Just last month, the French government announced it would <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/zoom-is-the-first-casualty-in-frances-war-on-american-big-tech-2000714545\">stop using American video conferencing platforms<\/a> like Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and instead use the French platform Visio.<\/p>\n<p>European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a similar message during her speech at the conference, calling on Europe to become more independent in all fields, including defense, energy, the economy, and digital technology.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission is reportedly working on <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/report-says-the-e-u-is-gearing-up-to-weaponize-europes-tech-industry-against-the-u-s-2000712327\">legislation aimed at promoting tech sovereignty<\/a> across the bloc.<\/p>\n<div class=\"od-wrapper od-wrapper-both od-background\"> <\/div>\n<p>The push is driven by concerns that the Trump administration could theoretically disable critical tech systems with a \u201cdigital kill switch\u201d that would make highly-connected weapon systems or infrastructure unusable. Others see the effort as leverage in ongoing trade tensions with Washington.<\/p>\n<p>The United States, for its part, is attempting to frame China as the real technological threat.<\/p>\n<p>United States National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross told an audience in Munich that the idea of a U.S.-controlled \u201ckill switch\u201d is not a \u201ccredible argument,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/eu-bid-for-tech-autonomy-washington-us-pushes-back\/\">according to Politico.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"od-wrapper od-wrapper-both od-background\"> <\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere is a clean tech stack. It is primarily American. And then there is a Chinese tech stack,\u201d Cairncross said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\"> <\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/acceptable.html\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; , the economy, and digital <span class=\"match\">technology<\/span>. The European Commission is reportedly &#8230; legislation aimed at promoting <span class=\"match\">tech<\/span> sovereignty across the bloc. &#8230; could theoretically disable critical <span class=\"match\">tech<\/span> systems with a \u00e2\u0080\u009cdigital &#8230; \u00e2\u0080\u009cThere is a clean <span class=\"match\">tech<\/span> stack. It is primarily &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}