Digital sovereignty: Consumers are looking for alternatives to US tech products

Anyone who shares the restaurant bill by Revolut app and uses the Vivaldi browser on their computer may be considered a spillant outsider in some circles. However, some developments in the past few months have meant that people who have previously rely on digital products and services from market leaders such as Google, PayPal, Amazon or Meta are more concerned about data protection and dependencies.

Convenience often proceeds

Overall, awareness of this problem is not as large as companies and authorities, says Florian Glatzner from the Federal Consumer Center (VZBV). However, he had the impression that many users now have “a bad feeling in the stomach area”, not only for software and hardware from China, but also in products from the USA. Since it is usually easier to use apps and other products that are widespread, user -friendly and often even preset on the devices, this discomfort does not lead to a change in behavior in most cases – or at least not immediately. Psychologists call something cognitive dissonance.

Trouble over for Windows 10

It is not always about concern, a US group could block access to your own data based on political requirements without warning. Other, more banal constraints also ensure that users think. One of the cases that have recently caused some trouble among consumers include Glatzner’s decision by Microsoft, which has been announced for a long time, that free support for Windows 10 on October 14th finally ends. With any security gaps, the users of the operating system then remain alone. For private customers, there is – Stand now – only the opportunity to get security updates for a year.

At the same time, the minimum requirements that a device must meet so that Windows 11 can be installed on it are so high that many otherwise fully functional hardware must be replaced – if those affected do not want to switch to another operating system. This causes unnecessary costs and large amounts of electronic waste, according to the criticism of some users.

Online payment service “Made in Europe”

At PayPal, security systems had failed almost a week ago to filter out fraudulent direct debits. As a result, a number of banks in Germany had stopped dipifications in Luxembourg from PayPal-Bank in Luxembourg. It was about direct debits where PayPal collects the money from the customer’s bank account after they bought goods on the Internet. It is not only since this great breakdown European competitors such as Neobank Revolut or Wero, the service provider of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), have competed with the “Made in Europe” argument to the online payment service provider from the USA.

In contrast to a conventional transfer, if you use the mobile wallet wero, you do not need the recipient’s account number, but can send money to a cell phone number or email address in real time. However, the service, which was previously only usable in Germany, France and Belgium, was initially only an offer for the customers of Sparkassen as well as folk and Raiffeisen banks, which made it available via the apps of their respective institutes. There is now an independent Wero app. The direct bank Ing has introduced Wero and Revolut has now integrated Wero into his app.

And if something goes wrong?

The Federal Office for Information Technology (BSI) advises you to look at “What happens to your own data or data from the relatives?”. A spokeswoman for the authority says: “The BSI recommends consumers to not only ask themselves when deciding on a product or service whether the basic functionality is helpful, but also to pay attention to the information that provides the provider with regard to safety incidents, such as corresponding measures and contact options.”

Majority complains of dependence on the USA and China at AI

Similar to the payment service providers, where US corporations such as PayPal, Visa and Mastercard are still in terms of market share in Germany, it is still well ahead of the European competition, it looks on the rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence (AI). In spring, the Bitkom industry association published the results of a representative survey. At that time, 68 percent of the respondents said that Germany was too dependent on the US and China area in the ACI area. 60 percent wanted Germany to become more independent of US AI companies.

Le Chat comes from France

According to the study, two thirds (67 percent) of people in Germany from the age of 16 used at least occasionally generative AI. It was 40 percent last summer. The use is almost exclusively limited to the three leading providers Openai (Chatgpt), Microsoft (Copilot) and Google (Gemini). The Ki start-up Mistral Ai (Le Chat) from France, which mainly developed open source language models and pays particular attention to privacy, is still largely unknown in this country. The German counterpart Alph Alpha focuses more on concrete AI solutions for corporate customers and public clients who have to meet high data protection requirements.

Data protection issues and strategies for reducing dependencies not only employ consumers and companies, but are also politically controversial. With digital sovereignty, the BSI relies on a double strategy: the EU market and its own digital industry are to be strengthened. International products should be technically secured in such a way that confident use is possible.

Summit on November 18 in Berlin

On November 18, France and Germany want to organize a summit on the subject of digital sovereignty together with the EU Commission in Berlin. The federal government is also concerned with minimizing risks. Or, as Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) expressed on Friday at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron: “This is important for the resilience of our economies.”