The USA and Europe are becoming increasingly estranged from each other. But what if we no longer had access to U.S. technology from overseas or wanted to voluntarily give it up? In this case, the alternatives from our list would be available to us.
On the one hand, Western society has been actively resisting technologies from China for years in order not to become too dependent on the Asian giant. On the other hand, most of us use services and software from the USA in many areas of our lives. Donald Trump’s anti-European course raises the question of whether dependence on the United States also carries risks. Fortunately, there are alternatives.
This is how we become independent of US technology
Many users are looking for ways to reduce their dependence on large US companies such as Google, Microsoft or Apple and to leave their data in European hands. The reliability of the USA as a partner to Europe, which was believed to be certain, will no longer exist in 2026.
Experts also fear that politics and business in the United States will become increasingly intertwined, which could come at the expense of data protection and user interests. Companies like Meta, Amazon or Google have enormous power, which they partly secure through anti-competitive practices. Although the EU is trying to regulate these companies, there is pressure from states not to take these measures.
After all, Europe now offers technically sophisticated alternatives that score particularly well in the areas of data security and privacy. In the following ten categories we show how you can get by in everyday digital life without software and hardware from overseas. You can use the links to get more information about the respective areas.
Translator apps
When it comes to translations, European applications are often ahead in terms of accuracy. The Cologne company DeepL uses neural networks for particularly natural-looking texts and is considered a global leader in the industry. Added to this is the app iTranslate from Austria, the French Reverso and the online dictionary Linguee.