A recent exchange on the topic of digital literacy sparked a question that cuts to the heart of Europe's relationship with technology. It began with a comment on Cristina Costa’s article, “Misplaced accountability: Why should young people be made to pay for the problems Big Tech create?” [1], which rightly challenges the narrative that places the burden of online safety on young people and their parents, while technology companies remain largely unaccountable.

In response to my agreement, Cristina posed a further question: “Where's the indie tech that we saw at the beginning of the WWW? It has been absorbed, silenced and sidelined by big tech companies. This is something worth investing in and I think entities like the EU have a crucial role in driving said alternatives.”

This is a pertinent and timely question. For those of us who remember the early educational technology scene 15 or 20 years ago, there was a palpable excitement around the emerging Web 2.0 applications. We did not foresee the rapid consolidation of the web by a handful of well-financed, predominantly US-based technology giants. Europe has never had the same availability of venture capital, which has historically been concentrated in a narrow Californian corridor, and the subsequent shift towards mobile app ecosystems has arguably further constrained the space for independent creativity.

However, the landscape is not entirely bleak. A personal frustration with music streaming services, which often seem more interested in algorithms than artists, led me to discover Qobuz, a French application that felt like a step back to those early days of digital excitement. The application is well-designed, the community is engaged, and the human-curated recommendations have genuinely broadened my musical horizons. It is a small but significant reminder that alternatives are possible and that a focus on user experience and community, rather than just scale, can create real value.

At a grander level, the search for alternatives is now being mirrored at the highest levels of European policy. The European Union is increasingly examining the open-source space in its bid to counter US tech dominance and bolster its own “tech sovereignty.” In January 2026, the European Commission launched a call for evidence to inform a new European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy, aiming to update its previous 2020-2023 open-source plan [2, 3].

The call for evidence explicitly states the problem:

“The EU faces a significant problem of dependence on non-EU countries in the digital sphere. This reduces users’ choice, hampers EU companies’ competitiveness, and can raise supply chain security issues... However, much of the value generated by open-source projects is exploited outside the EU, often benefiting tech giants.”

This strategic review aims to connect open-source development directly to digital sovereignty and transatlantic competitiveness. Lawmakers acknowledge that European open-source stakeholders face significant barriers, including limited access to public procurement, growth capital, and support infrastructures. The review will investigate how policy and funding can stimulate the sector, ensuring that critical open technologies are developed and governed in the public interest.

This strategic ambition is already translating into concrete actions across the continent. In France, the “Suite Numérique” plan is creating a digital ecosystem of sovereign tools for civil servants. As part of this, the government announced that the American platforms Microsoft Teams and Zoom will be replaced by a French-made, open-source-based videoconferencing platform called Visio. Following a successful year-long test with 40,000 users, the platform is scheduled to be rolled out across all government departments for 200,000 civil servants by 2027 [4].

Europe’s capacity for innovation in this space is also demonstrated by the success of companies like Mistral AI. The Paris-based firm has made a name for itself developing high-end open-source AI models and has attracted over $3 billion in funding, cementing its position as a European AI champion [5].

Underpinning all of this is the need for a sovereign infrastructure. Here too, we see movement. Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently launched its European Sovereign Cloud, with its first data centre region located in Brandenburg, Germany [6]. This initiative, designed to meet stringent EU data residency and security requirements, shows that even the largest global players are responding to Europe’s push for greater control over its digital infrastructure.

Cristina Costa’s question - “Where is the indie tech?” - important. The early, decentralised promise of the web may have been overshadowed by corporate giants, but it was never entirely extinguished. From individual user experiences to continent-wide industrial strategy, we are now hopefully seeing a concerted effort to cultivate a more diverse, independent, and sovereign digital ecosystem.

References

[1] Costa, C. (2026, January). Misplaced accountability: Why should young people be made to pay for the problems Big Tech create? Digital Literacies Network. (Also referenced at: https://aipioneers.org/why-should-young-people-pay-for-the-sins-of-the-big-tech-bros/)

[2] European Commission. (2026, January 12).Commission opens call for evidence on Open-Source Digital Ecosystems. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-call-evidence-open-source-digital-ecosystems

[3] European Commission. (2020, October 21). Open Source Software Strategy 2020-2023. https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-02/en_ec_open_source_strategy_2020-2023.pdf

[4] Euronews Next. (2026, January 27). France to ditch US platforms Microsoft Teams, Zoom for 'sovereign' platform amid security concerns. https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/01/27/france-to-ditch-us-platforms-microsoft-teams-zoom-for-sovereign-platform-amid-security-con

[5] AI Funding Tracker. (2025, October 14). How Mistral AI Became Europe's Fastest AI Unicorn? https://aifundingtracker.com/mistral-ai-funding-unicorn-valuation/

[6] AWS News Blog. (2026, January 14). Opening the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/opening-the-aws-european-sovereign-cloud/

About the Image

This image reflects on how AI systems interpret artworks in ways that differ from human understanding. For these works to become usable input for machine learning models, they must be converted into structured numerical data—a translation in which artistic, cultural, and social value is lost in numbers. This image also comments on the unconsented use of authors’ works in AI training. Here, AI is depicted as a tornado pulling artworks into its centre, evoking a sense of lost agency and control. The artworks featured are vintage magazine covers and advertisements selected from Rawpixel’s public domain collections. All numerical embeddings in this image are illustrative.