European lawmakers fear a kill switch order

Donald Trump is back in charge of the most powerful nation on earth, and Europe is finally realizing what that means for its internet.

The entire continent’s digital infrastructure is held together by US-owned cloud services, and Trump now holds full political control over the tech giants running them. As reported by Politico, European lawmakers, tech leaders, and industry experts are treating this as a real emergency.

Europe’s internet runs mostly on Amazon, Microsoft, and Google servers. These three companies control more than two-thirds of Europe’s cloud computing market. Everything from government emails to crypto exchange data runs through these platforms.

Cloud computing is what keeps the European digital economy alive, and all of it can be unplugged from Washington, and it already happened to the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor.

European lawmakers fear a kill switch order

After Trump returned to power earlier this year, tech executives and policymakers across Europe started warning that the White House could issue direct orders to shut down services.

“It is no longer reasonable to assume that we can totally rely on our American partner,” said Matthias Ecke, a German Social Democrat in the European Parliament. He warned that European data could be seized, or infrastructure could be blocked with zero notice, seeing as Trump has the well-known tendency to be extremely petty.

Alexander Windbichler, CEO of Austrian cloud firm Anexia, said the European cloud sector has failed to act politically.

“I never expected that the US would be threatening to take Greenland away,” Windbichler said. “It’s crazier than shutting down the cloud.”

He admitted that European firms like his focused too much on performance and ignored the dangerous level of dependence on US infrastructure.

Microsoft has already been used to enforce Trump’s foreign policy. In May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan lost access to his Microsoft-hosted email after the US sanctioned him for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Microsoft gave no details, saying only: “At no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.”

Aura Salla, a former Meta lobbyist and now a center-right member of the European Parliament, responded to that episode by saying, “Naturally, US companies must comply with US law,” and warned, “for Europeans, this means we cannot trust the reliability and security of US companies’ operating systems.”

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, admitted that the risk of a US-ordered shutdown in Europe is now taken seriously. He called it “a real concern of people across Europe,” but still claimed it’s “exceedingly unlikely.” Microsoft added a clause in its contracts with European governments to resist such orders and promised to fight suspensions in court. Meanwhile, Amazon said it would do “everything practically possible” to maintain service if sanctions ever came down.

Cloud giants admit they might not be able to resist Trump

Cristina Caffarra, tech economist and honorary professor at University College London, pointed out the real issue: “If that political dimension turns hostile, how credible is it that companies with the best intentions can challenge their president?”

Benjamin Revcolevschi, CEO of French company OVHcloud, compared it to a tap. “Cloud is like a tap of water. What if at some moment the tap is closed?” That’s the scenario European governments are now openly preparing for. And the fear is no longer theoretical.

To address this dependency, Brussels is looking at a certification label that would guarantee cloud services can’t be interrupted by foreign governments. But the proposal has been stuck in limbo. France wants the label to protect local infrastructure from the US Cloud Act, but other countries, like the Netherlands, are still reluctant to cut off American providers. That resistance is slowly fading as more evidence piles up that Trump is willing to weaponize digital infrastructure.

A freedom of information request revealed that the US State Department began pressuring the European Commission as early as September 2023. The Commission’s tech division refused to release their exchanges, saying it would “undermine relations” between the US and EU. But the lobbying campaign is confirmed and ongoing.

The only long-term fix being considered is EuroStack, a €300 billion European digital infrastructure plan designed to replace US dominance. The goal is to build a self-reliant system, from physical servers to software, that’s entirely controlled by Europe.

The EuroStack initiative is backed by tech economists and industry players and pushes three demands: “Buy European,” “Sell European,” and “Fund European.” It includes plans for massive funding, government quotas for local tech firms, and a new sovereign tech fund.

Jörg Kukies, Germany’s former finance minister, told reporters in April that the problem is urgent but warned there are no real alternatives yet. “There simply aren’t sufficient alternatives to the offerings by the American digital industry,” he said.

KEY Difference Wire helps crypto brands break through and dominate headlines fast