February 3, 2026
Visio-vicious breakup
France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US
France dumps Zoom & Teams; commenters cheer, rage, and ask what’s next
TLDR: France will move millions of workers off Zoom and Teams to a local service, part of Europe’s push for tech independence. Commenters celebrate ditching Teams, debate U.S. politics and data “kill switch” fears, and demand self-hosted options—turning a policy shift into a full-on internet breakup saga.
Europe’s big "it’s not you, it’s Big Tech" moment just got real: France says 2.5 million civil servants will quit U.S. video apps and switch to homegrown Visio by 2027, while Austria’s military and a German state are already using free, open-source tools. The comments? A full IT divorce court. One camp is popping virtual champagne: “No more Teams? Sounds like a dream,” raves one user, piling on jokes about “SharePoint being the better ex.” Another camp turns political, arguing U.S. policies pushed Europe to this line-in-the-sand moment, especially after the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor was sanctioned and people feared a Big Tech “kill switch.” (The ICC is a court that tries major crimes; Microsoft says it didn’t cut off the entire ICC.)
There’s max drama: some say this breakup is healthy and overdue, others warn Europe might be trading convenience for control. One hot take declares Trump inadvertently “made the world better” by forcing tech independence. Open-source fans storm in asking for self-hosted meeting tools, while link-sharers point back to an earlier debate thread here. Meanwhile, the meme economy calls it “digital sovereignty bootcamp,” and skeptics wonder if Visio will be anything more than a fancy PDF with a mute button. Europe wants autonomy; the comments want receipts.
Key Points
- •France will replace Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and GoTo Meeting with a domestic service, Visio, for 2.5 million civil servants by 2027.
- •Austria’s military has dropped Microsoft Office, adopting open source office software; a German state’s bureaucrats have also turned to free software.
- •European efforts aim to enhance digital sovereignty amid data privacy concerns and geopolitical tensions, including fears of service cutoffs.
- •An incident involving U.S. sanctions on the ICC prosecutor led Microsoft to cancel his ICC email, raising “kill switch” concerns; Microsoft says it did not suspend services to the ICC.
- •Microsoft emphasized data residency under European law and security; Zoom, Webex, and GoTo Meeting did not respond to comment requests.