I know people in the US are focused on DOGE, but over here in Europe, the impression is that the US completely destroyed its soft power this week. The expectation is that especially US tech will be weaponized, so people are switching search engines, studying dollar alternatives. If you think I am exaggerating, read the FT, Times, etc...
Are people talking about this - do they take it seriously or believe there is no alternative to US tech? What does it mean for US startups, California and global tech?
For what it counts, I deleted my Amazon account today (and lost all my Kindle books in the process), I'll never buy anything from them again.
I'll close my S3 storage account with a US company in the coming months : I'll switch to a German service.
In the coming weeks, I'll also delete my GMail account (my devices are already deGoogled since many years).
There a lot of European alternatives that respect our privacy, our values and principles.
I'm a US Millennial and my impression is that the US has spent my adult lifetime destroying its soft power, and this week is really just a culmination of that. US tech firms do not and have never (at least in my time working for them) cared about anything other than a pathological pursuit of profit that borders on nihilistic paperclip-optimization.<p>I believe that US firms see European tech companies as slow/lazy and think that good engineers only seek high compensation which is available to them in the US. Certainly there are some who are motivated by that, but I have known some great engineers in Europe which was one of my reasons for cautioning my American peers about pushing too hard for WFH; if they can do the job from home, then so can others in countries with lower costs of living.
I've sold all my holdings in US companies to instead invest in STOXX Europe 600 alternatives. I know others here in Sweden that have said they have done the same.<p>In Sweden, Russia has always been the enemy.<p>My prediction is that France and Germany will soon join the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and it will be the end of NATO. UK will probably join the Maximator intelligence alliance.<p>The death of Five Eyes and NATO in 2025 was not on my bingo card. Good luck with your new alliance with the Russians, Americans!
I think it depends a lot on what happens in the elections 2 and 4 years from now. The world may forgive or may be very well justified in their turn. I’m in the enterprise space and there’s not a lot of open acknowledgement of changes yet. I don’t think my particular company thinks there’s a way this is good for them.<p>To some degree I think it’s being treated as yet another line item in the long list of things that need to be managed in global companies of a certain size. I presume that the threat of retaliation (see story about X advertisers) is keeping voices quiet too.<p>It’s different this time… it’s going to get weird. And possibly dangerous. Talk of third term, crashing the economy as a pretense for parting out the assets of the federal government, finding a reason to cancel the next election, and being the war machine for our enemies may not feel like the purview of technology companies even as they angle for federal contracts to “support” some of these things.<p>We need more bodies at protests. Not everything announced has gone into effect, but they’re testing all the things they want to make happen. And they’re persistent.<p>The public haven’t yet seen the spark that may light the next resistance fire. It may not feel like we have moves available to us, but public boycotts, protests/ marches, calls to our politicians, honking for peace, supporting our neighbors — these are all reps in the resistance. They are recruitment and rallying measures. They are all little tiny sparks, from which something may alight. Look for something happening today and show up.
As an European I can confirm this is partly true. I wouldn't say it's completely destroyed it's soft power, but politically we do feel betrayed so whenever possible people would be looking to switch to non-US product. However, in business we're so intertwined with the US that it's hard to tell right now if there ever will be a justified switch.<p>In terms of pensions - I think 99.9% of us have a huge chunk the S&P, so even though we're upset I doubt there will be any movement on that front at all. Money will win in this battle.<p>Personally I do feel betrayed as well and for the first time in my life I've started looking for where the product I consume come from. About a third is from the US. Stopped buying them, found a European alternative.<p>To all the Europeans out here - let them live how they want over the pond, let's use this opportunity to promote our industries and products as well as become as independent as we possibly can given our current financial and political constraints.<p>No hard feelings at all, live and let live.
Perspective from my side of small automation business ownership
We started cleaning out company dependents dev stack from not necessary components starting mid last year. This activity just picked up full steam and we're planning block stuff like <i>.microsoft.com and </i>.GitHub.com in our main mikrotik router next month.
My engineering team did amazing work divesting our development stack from windows. It is very hard to achieve in automation business. Most software development packaged for windows only. They did so much work replaced hardware vendors who did not work with Linux. Some work good with wine and we keeping them.
We have internal company's gitea. We mirror EVERYTHING from GitHub we need internally. Even debian repositories!
I expect that we can soon operate without internet connection for core business (install software on company PCs, develop automation code, etc),
Company trucks all have 4TB hard drives with everything necessary for work outside the office.
We have email and calendar on proton. Highly recommend amazing service and support.
US companies cannot keep my company hostage anymore. It is hard to achieve this. But you can do it. Even we did in the field where windows OS is king.
Tesla FSD wont be authorized in Europe, this will be one direct consequence of all of that.<p>In addition, tariffs will be put on cars coming from the US.<p>Plus, US is now recognized as a very unreliable partner in terms of defense, that Europe regrets buying their systems.
Dutch pension fund ABP sells all Alphabet and Meta shares, CEO tells newspaper FD<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/dutch-pension-fund-abp-sells-all-alphabet-meta-shares-ceo-tells-newspaper-fd-2025-02-17/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/dutch-pension-fund-ab...</a>
I said this else where, but, dramatic foreign policy shifts and realignments only make the U.S. even less attractive as an ally and a partner.
Decades of relationships are being strained in the attempt of mending ties with a state that never really did much to advance America's interests in the modern era. And it could all be completely undone in four years. The whip lash of back and forth, radical shifts in policy, are as damaging as the acts that directly alienate America's global partners.
Canada too. Border crossings down significantly over the recent long weekend:<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fewer-canadians-travelling-southbound-1.7465260" rel="nofollow">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fewer-canadi...</a>
Switching search engines to what? AI-powered search also created by American companies?<p>America's image is toxic to everyone right now (including its own citizens). But I don't really see that many valid alternatives. It's not like Europe has done much to cultivate any kind of relevant software industry.
They probably know it very well but there's not much they can do about it since the Democratic party lost so thoroughly in the last election, leaving them little ability to influence the course of events. Even something as utterly disastrous for US tech companies as the proposed tariff on semiconductors is, as far as I can tell, largely being met by silence. That's how bad the situation is.
I ditched my Google account a while ago. That was tricky because I used it to log in to several websites.<p>I fortunately also got rid of Facebook a while ago. This gave me a lot more time back. It's difficult at first, because there's a little fomo, but now I am very happy.<p>I never started with all the other social media. No Instagram, no Twitter. So that makes it easy.<p>My computers have always run Linux, very happy with that.<p>Streaming services are next. At least the US ones.<p>Replacing whatsapp with signal also. I noticed a lot of my contacts are already in there, just not actively using it. It's a question of just starting communications and groups there.<p>It's quite doable, but you have to really want to "vote with your wallet" so to speak. I think it's a worthwhile sacrifice. In fact, it rids you of psychological warfare, reduces anxiety, costs less money and gives you your time back.<p>If you think about it that way, it's a no brainer.
It really depends on if Europe hates America more than they hate China (or even Russia). Once Europe embraces Chinese tech over American tech (eg alibaba over Amazon, WeChat over Facebook, baidu over Google, BYD over Tesla) it’s all over for the USA as a world power. If they still hate China more than the USA, then it’s somehow salvageable.
I think you are hugely overestimating the impact in Europe. Some politically aware are switching to non-US big tech, if possible. But the vast majority either doesn't care about politics, think it's too much effort, or even agrees with what is happening in the US right now.
From a European Saas firm. I am reviewing technology partners for my firm, and due to the possible trade wars and polticial climate we have started to treat US-centric partner as a negative.<p>That is just the business part of things, the removal of DEI at all cost in conjunction with the Russian dealings and the statements from JD Vance are also a bit hard to be positive about.<p>We like the companies but the noise increases risk as opposed to European partners.
The majority of Americans do not care and do not really want US tech to be global. The majority of Americans are ashamed of US soft power and the way we meddle with other countries constantly. While loss of dollar hegemony will have economic implicatiosn for the US, American's just don't really care about having dollar hegemony. We don't care about any of these things or what Europe is doing.
I’m not making this up. I was thinking about posting the exact same question an hour ago.
I am questioning my entire tech and communication stack. The first thing I did was download all my emails locally with offineimap. I can’t deny that I’m worried to get rug pulled by US companies any moment now.
I was just thinking today how long will it be until Windows is turned into a weapon. I know I know, but its not really paranoid to think that anymore is it? Imagine the chaos around the world caused by Windows machines simultaneously reformatting hard disks except in America.
Good headlines for sure, but i wonder:<p>Suppose the war ends. Will the Europeans keep boycotting the cheap russian gas?<p>Tarriffs are a nuisance to the US - the US doesn't export much.
The big companies do, thus the pressure from Vance earlier this week on the EU dropping any regulations the US doesn’t agree with. Obviously that plan is questionable in terms of efficacy and morality, but it’s definitely in progress
Wishing and doing are two different things. Integration of US products and services is still incredibly deep in Europe, as is political cooperation on all layers. I don't think this can be abandoned on a whim, even if people wanted to.<p>(Same goes for the other side of the geopolitical aisle: European politicians would have liked a much faster and much more comprehensive economic decoupling from China since at least the start of the Ukraine war. But feedback from the private sector was pretty clear that this would have been economic suicide. Hence the official stance is now "de-risking" instead of "decoupling")
I don’t think most Americans care about how Europe sees us. Instead, there is a thought that Europe uses America to protect its own interests instead of putting its own resources on the line.<p>America itself has its own problems. America is spending too much money. America has an inflation problem that led to one of the most unpopular presidents ever getting elected again. Many Americans think it’s time to solve America’s problems instead of being feted in European capitals. If that means the rest of world won’t use Gmail, YouTube, or Facebook, so be it. Those companies can take care of themselves.
I’m an unhappy American. With D-ump’s anti science and education stance Europe (and china) will have an unprecedented chance to lure some great talent. With grants being suspended, colleges, government science, and technology professionals will have to find employment, Europe would be very attractive to a lot of educated people in the USA. My daughter holds a phd and is on the chopping block, I plan to tell her and her husband if they get job offers in Europe, I would gladly sell everything here and move to Europe too!
They don't realize anything and they don't care, all the leadership in these companies have no vision beyond goosing the next quarter's numbers. They have been promoted to the top because of their ability to meet targets, nothing else. If they see weakness in Europe they will compensate by pushing more ads, lay off some people or increase prices to keep the number go up.<p>They are all sitting ducks for black swan events, but I don't think getting roasted in Europe will be enough to trouble them.
Never thought I'd live to see the end of Pax Americana and yet here we are. To give up this amount of control and soft power just to cozy up to the corpse of the Soviet union is not the universe branch I expected to find myself in.<p>You yanks might think this is some display of your upper hand. Just wait until the civilized world turns its back on the greenback as the reserve currency. You will be so fucked.
My experience is in SaaS marketing.<p>EMEA has always been a soft market for tech. And it's always been a cost center for regionalization and compliance.<p>A move away from US tech is not necessarily new or surprising. But it's also not as damning to the bottom line as one would expect.<p>I will say that the tech sector in Europe is not nearly as robust. While alternatives exist for some products, they are not likely going to find international markets of their own. (Overgeneralization, obv).
IMO, this is a great wake-up call for every country out there that over-relies on US tech and considers them a messiah. On the short term, this is going to be painful if US continues to bully and holds tech hostage but in the long term, trying to be as independent as possible will only prove to be advantageous (if done seriously and done right). China is a good example.
> the US completely destroyed its soft power this week<p>Soft power sounds like manipulation to me. So if we destroyed our manipulation, great. The United States has put its fingers on too many scales rather than respecting the rights of individuals in other countries to manage their affairs the way they see fit.<p>I welcome tech competition from Europe. Let the best products and services win.
As a US citizen I can only hope that this kickstarts alternatives and paid for options in the spaces big (ad)tech dominates here. These bloated monopolies with short lived products or soon to be acquired competitors are getting old. (And these constant layoffs and shareholder/promo driven development to a smaller degree)
Good information, and I see no sign it has been noticed in the US (which is why your report is good info).<p>The first question is how broad is this shift; is it really everywhere on the street or just in the "early adopters"?<p>The next question is how durable is the trend?<p>The things I've noticed here are reports of AfD rapidly losing 5% in the polls after Vance spoke in Munich, and a French right-wing leader cancelling his planned speech at CPAC after Bannon did a Nazi salute in his talk. When the US wannabe-Nazis are too toxic for European pro-fascists, that is saying something...
I use links2 and lynx web browsers.<p>The issue in EU is Big Tech has many "minions" in public administrations and local critical online services (many dominant online services are theirs anyway). They manage to make hard dependent the "web" on their cartel of whatng web rendering engines (and their SDK).
If Europe somewhat deregulated startup stage businesses an countries issued more visas to engineers it could probably turn a lot of things around. So far European founders have been moving to US. But these days I imagine I'm not the only one who doesn't want to work in the shadow of US technofeudalist oligarchy and receive money from people like Marc Andreessen.
Majority of Americans do not care, unlike what always online political social media wants you to believe. It’s not really a big concern for us what is going on in Europe and frankly I prefer that the US does not meddle in foreign affairs, there’s been far too much of that in recent decades especially. So soft power can not exist for all many of us care.<p>Also, look at social media like reddit even outside of politics, Europeans constantly laugh at Americans for bringing up European heritage but when Europe is in trouble, it’s all “think of Europe!!!” Why? America is in its own safe bubble, Russia is not really a threat to us and personally I’m not even of European heritage so telling me to care so much more about Europe unlike Asia or Africa just falls on deaf ears. I get along with Russians just as much as I get along with the English or French, and this is true for many of us, we’re a country of immigrants but much of that isn’t European in origin and even those of European origin aren’t necessarily thinking of Europe in any regard except as a potential vacation destination.<p>The EU simply isn’t that important to many of us.
European here: other than people obsessed with certain political events, nobody really cares, people aren't going to throw away their iPhones and switch away from Microsoft.<p>I also find this very strange, that people did not talk about doing the mass exodus after we found out the US is conducting mass surveillance on us, but just because they don't like the politics of the current president, they start talking about how bad the US is.<p>> The expectation is that especially US tech will be weaponized<p>That should always have been the expectation, that's why the basic idea of GDPR was a good one, too bad they have botched it in the end.<p>> I know people in the US are focused on DOGE, but over here in Europe, the impression is that the US completely destroyed its soft power this week.<p>It's just some politicians who are unhappy because things didn't go their way, a lot of ordinary people are just happy to see hope that the economic suicide might be coming to an end, maybe next year my energy bills won't be 3x of what they used to be 3 years ago, one can dream.<p>Keep in mind that most people don't even understand what current events are about, the vocal minority can be very vocal.<p>> so people are switching search engines<p>> Are people talking about this - do they take it seriously or believe there is no alternative to US tech?<p>Switching search engines is easy, try switching your whole office from Windows to Linux.<p>> What does it mean for US startups, California and global tech?<p>It will mean nothing, if I need to build a product that requires US tech and there is no alternative, I'm going to use the US tech, end of story.
I think tech firms for the most part are just saying what they need to in order to not get too much scrutiny from US leadership. In their eyes, medium or even long term damage to foreign market interests is secondary to a more existential risk faced at home.<p>As for the US dollar, floats against the euro and yen are still roughly in historic high territory, though not at peak, and recently edge up. If the US actually tries to default maybe there’d be significant flight to other currencies. Otherwise any large institution is probably going to wait out 4 years, possibly find the next bubble to pump up during likely deregulation of markets, and probably have it pop in time for the political right to blame it on progressives if/when the public pendulum swings the other way and they hold office again. The other way the dollar fails is if there is general wide spread world chaos in & out of financial markets, but in that case I’d expect little in the way of an alternative world reserve and more in the way of regional reserves, more insular and isolated.
> do they take it seriously or believe there is no alternative to US tech<p>There isn't, broadly speaking. Oh yeah, gonna use OpenEuroLLM? Have y'all made the ePhone yet or is that still stuck in committee?<p>Other countries will moan for a bit, no one likes having their free money and handouts taken away, then realize that US technology is still broadly the only option, and its actually quite good and even other US companies cant compete with US big tech with all of the free money here, let alone the tech-backward eurozone. Right now its the UK forcing Apple to remove Advanced Data Protection for UK citizens (not the eurozone, to be clear, but adjacent and culturally aligned)<p>The "boycotts" are great for headlines though (don't worry, Apple's revenue this year will be larger than ever, as always). If y'all don't want to buy Teslas though, I get that; I feel the same way.
I am sorry, but this question shows how deep you are in the bubble.<p>People don´t care, never did.<p>Example: after Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, people still suck up to MbS. Money rules the world.<p>After what we learned about Guantanamo Bay, nobody should be allowed to call the US a democratic country. But we all decided to ignore the facts, as watching Netflix is way to nice.
Is the backlash worse than the Bush invasion of Iraq in 2003? Is it worse than the first Trump administration? Genuinely curious. The reality is the 50% of voters who DID not vote for the current president are just as shell shocked as the Europeans. Only we KNEW it was coming.
That's honestly happening here, too. So many of my acquaintances are dropping big tech reliances. Some of us are building our own tools as work around where we can.