France is pushing U.S. collaboration giants out of its public sector, replacing Zoom and Teams with a state-backed videoconferencing platform as part of a broader bid for digital independence. The move crystallizes a long running European anxiety that critical government work has become too dependent on foreign cloud providers and opaque data flows. As Europe races to build its own stack, France is turning that concern into concrete policy rather than another strategy paper.
What looks like a narrow procurement decision is in fact a test case for how far European governments are willing to go to reclaim control over their digital infrastructure. The French shift lands just as tensions over data transfers, sanctions and surveillance are reshaping relations between Europe and U.S. Big Tech, and it signals that the next phase of that struggle will play out inside everyday tools like video calls and office software.
France’s break with Zoom and Teams
France has decided that its civil servants should no longer rely on American videoconferencing platforms for official business, and is preparing to phase out Zoom and Teams in favor of a state controlled alternative. According to detailed plans, France is moving to replace Zoom and Teams across government, alongside other services such as Zoom, Webex and GoTo Meeting, in order to bring sensitive communications back under national oversight. Officials have framed the shift as a matter of sovereignty rather than a simple cost saving exercise, arguing that core state functions should not depend on platforms governed by foreign law.
The new system is built around a homegrown service known as Visio, which has been piloted inside the administration and is now being scaled up. French authorities have tested Visio since last year and are rolling it out to around 200,000 g government employees, with the explicit goal of ensuring that data is stored in Europe and handled under European rules. In parallel, the government is tightening rules that will ban officials from using U.S. video tools including Zoom and Teams for their day to day work, a policy shift that has been confirmed as France moves to formalize the ban across Europe facing institutions.
Bonjour Visio and the politics of sovereignty
At the heart of the strategy is Bonjour Visio, the state backed platform that Paris is elevating from pilot project to default tool for public administration. Officials describe Bonjour Visio as a concrete expression of France’s ambition to turn digital sovereignty from a slogan into operational policy, with Paris signaling to Silicon Valley style providers that it is time for Europe to govern itself in the cloud. By building and controlling its own videoconferencing stack, France aims to guarantee that encryption, logging and access policies are set by domestic authorities rather than by distant product teams.
The decision also reflects a broader European unease about how data generated by public institutions is processed and where it ultimately resides. French officials have repeatedly cited Concerns about data privacy and the risk that Europe is not doing enough to keep up with the United States and Chinese tech leaders, arguing that relying on foreign platforms for critical communications leaves governments exposed. In that context, Bonjour Visio is less a niche product and more a flagship for a policy shift that treats control over software and infrastructure as a strategic asset on par with energy or defense.
Europe’s wider push to ditch U.S. tech
France’s move is not happening in isolation, it is part of a wider European effort to reduce dependence on U.S. tech giants across the public sector. Reporting on the trend notes that European governments are moving away from U.S. tech giants and opting for domestic or open source alternatives for their administrative work, from messaging tools to office suites. Around Europe, governments and institutions are seeking Around Europe greater digital autonomy from the U.S., with France’s decision to dump Zoom and Teams often cited as a leading example of that shift.
Analysts argue that this amounts to a structural break in the relationship between Europe and U.S. Big Tech, not just a series of isolated procurement calls. One Analyst has warned Investors that Europe’s breakup with Big Tech is underway, suggesting that the region is actively rebalancing away from American platforms in favor of local providers. That assessment is echoed in coverage that describes how Why France is dumping Microsoft Teams and Zoom for homegrown videoconferencing, Aiming to replace all U.S. videoconferencing services and reduce reliance on American cloud and collaboration platforms across the board.
Sanctions, surveillance and the Trump factor
The geopolitical backdrop to Europe’s tech pivot has sharpened under President Donald Trump, whose sanctions and trade policies have pushed allies to reassess their exposure to U.S. controlled infrastructure. Coverage of the shift notes that Europe is ditching U.S. tech as Trump sanctions spark a sovereignty push, with France highlighted as a country that announced it is replacing Microsoft Teams and Zoom with domestic tools. The same reporting explains that the answer from European policymakers came fast once sanctions began to bite, as governments sought to cut ties with foreign providers that could be caught up in future political disputes.
Long running tensions over surveillance and data transfers have also primed European opinion for a harder line. For years, Washington and Brussels wrangled over data transfer agreements after revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, disputes that repeatedly threw into question the legal basis for moving European data into U.S. clouds. Those battles have now converged with a new wave of sanctions and export controls, reinforcing the view in capitals like Paris that Europe must be able to run essential services without depending on infrastructure that could be disrupted by decisions taken in Washington.
From video calls to the full software stack
France’s videoconferencing pivot is already spilling over into a broader rethink of the software stack used by its public sector. Reporting on the policy shift notes that France is not only targeting Zoom and Teams but is also exploring alternative office software to replace Microsoft, as part of a wider effort to reduce reliance on U.S. vendors for email, storage and productivity tools. One account of the change describes how France is pushing U.S. tech giants out of the French government, explaining that They are moving civil servants off Microsoft Teams and Zoom and looking at replacements for a range of U.S. cloud services and platforms.
That ambition is reflected in the way officials talk about digital sovereignty as a horizontal objective rather than a single product decision. Commentators observing the rollout of Bonjour Visio have noted that France and Paris are effectively telling Silicon Valley style firms that it is time for Europe to govern itself in the digital realm, not just in videoconferencing but across cloud infrastructure and software. That message is reinforced by coverage that frames the decision as part of a larger European effort to seek digital autonomy from the U.S., with France dumping Zoom and Teams as Europe recalibrates its relationship with American providers.
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