Big Tech’s “Sovereign Cloud” promises just collapsed — in their own words
Early 2025 US hyperscalers started to ramp up their public relations efforts in Europe, aggressively promoting “sovereign cloud” offerings. Their goal was to calm growing fears around US surveillance, fueled by legal uncertainty, the Trump presidency, and widespread concern about European autonomy in the digital realm.
Microsoft launched its “European Cloud Principles”, later renamed “European Digital Sovereignty Commitments”, promising to build trust through local control, transparency, and data residency. Amazon, Google, and Salesforce followed suit with their own “sovereign” branding — each assuring European governments and businesses that their clouds were safe, shielded, and separate.
In the past weeks, the “sovereign cloud” narrative has collapsed, exposing the “sovereign washing” attempts by Big Tech. And this time, it’s not critics or watchdogs exposing the contradictions, but the tech firms themselves.
In early June, Anton Carniaux, General Manager of Microsoft France, testified under oath before the French Senate (transcript (FR), video (FR), media coverage (DE)) that he cannot guarantee that data belonging to French citizens, even when hosted by Microsoft under a government procurement agreement (UGAP), wouldn’t be handed over to foreign authorities without the French government’s consent.
