Europe and Canada can only protect their digital ecosystems against US interference if they start investing in tech sovereignty now.
When Prime Minister Carney agreed to drop the digital services tax under pressure from the United States, Europe was watching closely. Under President Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, the US had already unleashed a diplomatic storm against its supposed ally — threatening to sanction EU officials over a European Union law, the Digital Services Act, that aims to increase accountability and limit the spread of illegal content on large platforms. It may seem like a risky time for bold policy leadership, but short-term trade agreements and other giveaways on tech issues will only invite further coercion to bend to the US’s will. Case in point: within days of the announcement of an EU-US trade framework, the Trump Administration again began to antagonize Europe on tech.
In the long run, Europe and Canada can only gain negotiating leverage and fortify their digital ecosystems against US interference if they start investing in their own tech sovereignty now. By building a tech firewall against US tech coercion, we can build a transatlantic approach for defending democracy and leadership in our own tech industries. In the process, both regions have a lot to learn and gain from each other through partnerships that ensure rules-based and democratic online spaces that put citizens, not profit, at the centre.
Recent worrying examples show the global control that Silicon Valley and Washington can exert through their dominance in the tech sector. During crucial moments of the war with Russia, Elon Musk cut off Ukrainians’ internet access, limiting their defensive capability. There has been growing discussion as to how the US can control software and hardware used by allied countries or international organizations, like in the case of an International Criminal Court prosecutor who lost access to his email account following US sanctions. The dependencies are glaring: currently, over 70 percent of cloud services in Europe are from US companies. Europeans, like Canadians, can easily imagine a scenario where President Trump uses digital technology to compel trade commitments in a trade war, or even territorial concessions if relations deteriorate into armed conflict. More must be done to defend digital infrastructure against US manipulation. Denmark, a country that has also faced territorial threats from the US in Greenland, will reduce its dependency on Microsoft as part of a de-risking effort for a start.
As US platforms pulled back their content moderation efforts in recent years, Canadian democracy has suffered. Meta’s choice to block news on Instagram and Facebook in response to the Online News Act has made disinformation particularly bad in Canada as news became less accessible on social media newsfeeds. During the recent federal election, Canadian social media feeds were flooded by AI spam, and faced foreign interference threats. The Carney government has indicated its interest in stronger online safety rules, which would require platforms to limit the spread of harmful content like that which victimizes children or includes intimate images shared without consent. But online platforms pose broader, systemic risks to Canadian and European democracy.
Lawmakers and civil society in Europe are reacting to the newly exposed risks of foreign tech control by urgently developing sovereign tech stacks; the layers of hardware and software behind a technical service, like cloud computing. These sovereign technologies could include stronger protections for democracy, digital rights, the environment, and regional security. In Canada, experts like tech commentator Paris Marx have also promoted the idea of strengthening and investing in domestic control over cloud infrastructure to reduce dependence on foreign technology firms. Both Europe and Canada depend heavily on a small number of mostly US companies for a number of essential technologies. Canadian policymakers could build on national ‘Elbows Up’ sentiment with a ‘Buy Canadian’ strategy that involves industrial policy and procurement that supports domestic technology industries. Like the industrial policy that guides Canada’s oil and gas industry, a tech industrial policy would ensure the development of digital tools that are developed sustainably and reflect democratic values with interoperability, trustworthiness, and transparency.
In the long run, Europe and Canada can only gain negotiating leverage and fortify their digital ecosystems against US interference if they start investing in their own tech sovereignty now.
There are also promising alternative models of social media and AI that give users more choice and that could benefit from public support or adoption. For example, the X alternative Bluesky is built to be decentralized and as an open-source app, while the social-networking platform Mastodon allows communities to govern their own versions of the service. Switzerland has even launched a public, open-source AI model, where the parameters for training the model are publicly available, to compete with services like ChatGPT. The developers of Switzerland’s Apertus AI model claim it is also built in compliance with European law and with stronger protections for copyrighted material. These technical solutions do not exist in a vacuum, and governments can show leadership by advocating for the principles that underlie these technology alternatives.
There is a gap in global diplomatic leadership on technology issues. The US is, of course, not the only country seeking to manipulate technology for strategic goals. Countries like Russia, India, and China operate foreign interference campaigns in Canada while seeking to implement their own visions of global technology governance. While Canada coordinates globally through tools like the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, there is an opportunity for more visible diplomacy, especially as the US backs away from multilateral institutions. Canada and Europe are in a unique position to fill this void and to fight for the core democratic principles of global technology governance like protections for human rights.
In a world where technology has become an essential tool of geopolitical coercion, especially in support of the global shift toward authoritarianism, there is a chance for Europe and Canada to show leadership by building technology behind a tech firewall that defends against manipulation by the US and other actors. They will be more effective by sharing lessons and coordinating enforcement of technology rules, finding opportunities to align public-interest and open-source technology, and advocating in multilateral settings on shared principles that govern technology. There is strength in numbers — especially when the US threatens the sovereignty of many countries under its sphere of influence. In the short term, a stronger alliance between Canada and Europe on technology can help build a bulwark against interference by the United States. In the long run, developing an independent, democratic digital ecosystem insulates Canada not just against external threats but can safeguard privacy, protect freedom of expression, and ensure that technology is developed to benefit the many, rather than the profit margins of a handful of people in Washington and Silicon Valley.
This article was first published on Perspectives Journal.
