American digital giants excel in the art of making believe that their products are free. Many of their services are displayed as such, until Internet users can no longer do without. It is then that – surprise! – Their most popular functions become paid.
By threatening to deprive Ukraine of the Constellation of Internet Starlink satellites which she needs so much to resist Putin, Donald Trump recalls the cold reality hidden behind what seemed to initially a “good deal”: dependence on American technologies exposes to undergo strong pressure from the latter.
Reduce our digital dependence
So certainly, the French – like all Europeans – should not be locking themselves in a narrow vision of digital sovereignty and buying only “good at home” products. This would harm the competitiveness of old continent companies to completely deprive themselves of American technologies, which generally offer excellent value for money.
At a time when relations between Washington and the twenty-seven are more tense than ever, it is however urgent to reduce our digital dependence. Because it is colossal. Five of the seven giant web platforms that we use on a daily basis are American players. They also capture 65 % of European cloud purchases, especially those of our companies. If Donald Trump decided tomorrow to complicate our access to these products, could we take the shock?