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ZDNET's key takeaways
France is dropping US videoconferencing services in favor of its own open-source program.
Visio is being deployed now and will replace other services by 2027.
Visio is part of a much larger EU move to digital sovereignty.
It's not about the French government not trusting US tech companies… Sorry, actually, it is. It's all about France not trusting American companies with its data or services.
As David Amiel, France's minister-delegate for the civil service and state reform, put it: France is committed "to regaining our digital independence. We cannot risk having our scientific exchanges, our sensitive data, and our strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors."
Also: Europe's plan to ditch US tech giants is built on open source - and it's gaining steam
So, France is pushing US tech giants out of the French government. They're moving civil servants off Microsoft Teams and Zoom and onto a homegrown videoconferencing platform called Visio -- all in the name of sovereign control over its digital infrastructure.
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