<p>The French government in early 2026 announced that its 2.5 million civil servants will ditch Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other video-conferencing platforms from U.S. software makers and instead will use tech developed by its own Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs.</p>
<p>The move helps France to <i>”mettre fin à l’utilisation de solutions extra-européennes”</i> — or “end the use of non-European solutions” — according to the government’s official announcement.</p>
<p>This headline-making news is only the latest example of how the concept of digital sovereignty is changing how both public and private organizations decide what technology to use and how they architect their tech stacks.</p>
<p>Organizations of all kinds around the globe need to take note: “These digital sovereignty requirements are affecting companies now or will in the future,” said cybersecurity expert Allie Mellen, author of <i>Code War: How Nations Hack, Spy, and Shape the Digital Battlefield</i> and analyst at Forrester.</p>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”Digital sovereignty is on the rise”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>Digital sovereignty is on the rise</h2>
<p>Governments around the world are implementing laws and regulations promoting digital sovereignty, a movement that has been bubbling up for a decade.</p>
<p>The idea of digital sovereignty stemmed in part from <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/tip/State-of-data-privacy-laws”>data privacy regulations</a> and, more specifically, the EU’s <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/General-Data-Protection-Regulation-GDPR”>GDPR</a>, which dictates how EU citizens’ data must be treated by businesses and other entities, regardless of where those organizations are headquartered or operate.</p>
<p>Such regulations gave rise to <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/data-sovereignty”>data sovereignty</a>, the concept that information generated, processed, converted and stored in digital form is subject to the laws of the country in which it was created.</p>
<p>Digital sovereignty moves the needle further. It goes beyond regulating data to regulating the digital infrastructure, innovation and investments purchased, made and used by organizations within a country or government jurisdiction. The model is designed to ensure some or all of those technology sectors are locally sourced and operated.</p>
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<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”Drivers of digital sovereignty”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>Drivers of digital sovereignty</h2>
<p>Governments are pushing for digital sovereignty to ensure organizations within their borders are resilient and not vulnerable to actions taken by foreign governments that could limit access to or raise the cost of computer components or services, experts said.</p>
<p>”It’s about being independent from foreign government jurisdictions and influences on your IT stack. That’s it in a nutshell. It’s about the IT stack being free from foreign jurisdictions, influences and decisions,” said Dario Maisto, an analyst with Forrester.</p>
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It’s about being independent from foreign government jurisdictions and influences on your IT stack.
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<strong>Dario Maisto, analyst, Forrester</strong>
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<p>Governments also believe enabling digital sovereignty will help cushion organizations within their jurisdictions against events such as wars and pandemics that disrupt global supply chains, experts said. Governments have seen how companies in recent years scrambled to find new service providers after economic sanctions, war and other political actions shut off existing offshore vendors — a situation that some digital sovereignty laws aim to prevent in the future.</p>
<p>”We’re hearing about digital sovereignty being about continuity and availability of services. As the geopolitical environment gets hotter, there is a growing awareness that events have knock-on effects, and there are cases where it’s reasonable for governments to think about digital dependencies,” said Alexander Botting, senior director of global security and technology strategy at law firm Venable LLP.</p>
<p>Economic considerations drive some digital sovereignty laws as well. “There are some cases that are about straight protectionism,” Botting added.</p&
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