When Digital Sovereignty Meets Everyday Life: Europe’s Big Tech Gamble

You do research on a product, maybe a pair of shoes, a gadget, or a flight ticket. And all of a sudden, every other ad on your screen is a copy of the same. It is easy and convenient to get over it – until you stop to think: how come the internet knows me so well?

• This is not how the periphery of an algorithm works, but a systematically curated process designed to influence user behaviour, shaping not just what we buy, but how we think and choose. 

As Europe now discusses “digital sovereignty,” it’s worth asking: who truly holds the reins of your digital life—you, your government, or the tech giants?

A recent article by Politico explains how France and Germany, in alliance with the United States, are championing a “sovereign digital transition,” the idea that Europe must reduce its dependence on foreign Big Tech giants and establish its own technological foundations. On paper, it appears to be a bold step toward autonomy. In practice, however, citizens across Europe are asking: What does this mean for me, my data, my digital life? (https://archive.ph/k7Nyz)

The Promise of a European Stack – What’s at Stake?

The ambition is high: from sovereign cloud infrastructure to home-grown AI and chip design, the goal is a Europe where tech is owned, governed, and secured by Europeans. But this raises significant questions. Who controls these platforms? Are they built for citizen empowerment or just national-industrial competition? Is “sovereignty” being framed as freedom, or as new walls around users’ data and digital behaviours?

Ground-Level Reality: Data, Dependence, and Digital Discomfort

• Commuters from the EU are receiving fines from London’s ULEZ zone even though they never drove there. The cross-border data sharing behind that fine is not some distant regulation—it’s a personal intrusion. (Source: Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/eu-citizens-ulez-fines-data-breach-tfl? | https://archive.ph/s9EBF)
• DataReportal’s “Digital 2025: Online Privacy Concerns” section highlights that in Europe, the number of connected adults worried about how companies use their personal data is a meaningful trend (although slightly down from previous years). (Source: Dataportal – https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-sub-section-online-privacy | https://archive.ph/vOwZp )
• A case where the European Commission was ordered to compensate a citizen for improperly transferring his personal data outside the EU, illustrating how even high-level institutions can breach data-protection rights. (Source: Brussels Signal – https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/01/eu-court-orders-ec-to-compensate-citizen-for-violating-its-own-protection-laws/ | https://archive.ph/bN5lF)

These stories illustrate that what starts as “digital sovereignty” in high-level Brussels dialogue ends up in your bank records, your home, and your social feed.

Where Sovereignty Risks Turning Into Surveillance

According to the Politico piece, Europe’s push to take control of its tech stack is partly a response to U.S. dominance. But replacing one system with another raises the same concerns:

Will European infrastructure keep privacy at the centre, or will it become just another corporate/state-controlled ecosystem?

When national or bloc-level systems enforce age checks, data localization, and surveillance capabilities, will citizens gain freedom or lose it?

The Pirate Perspective: Tech for People, Not Power

For the European Pirates Party, the question isn’t whether Europe should build tech. It’s how and for whom. True sovereignty starts with the user’s choice, not just the state’s contracts and cloud servers.

Digital freedom means:

• Transparent platforms where citizens can inspect how their data is used.
• User-controlled infrastructure, where opting out isn’t a penalty.
• Open standards and interoperability, rather than locked-in systems that create new dependencies.
• Governance by citizens, not just by ministers or industrial lobbyists.

What It Means For You

Ask: Who owns the cloud where your photos are stored? If Europe builds its own stack, will you still have the right to move your data freely?

Watch for: Platforms that claim “European control” but push the same manipulative algorithms and business models as before.

Insist on: User education and choice because no matter how sovereign the tech gets, if you don’t understand it, you are still powerless.

Final Word

Europe’s digital sovereignty drive is exciting and potentially transformative. Europe’s digital sovereignty drive is exciting and potentially transformative.  However, if it continues without electing citizens to govern, we risk establishing a “sovereign tech” environment that denies users authority. 

The Pirates’ message is unmistakable: sovereignty devoid of popular authority is merely another form of reliance. Let’s ensure that users, not tech companies or anyone else, own the data revolution.