Dégafamiser : on a un plan.

The United States, under President Donald Trump, has pursued an aggressive digital policy, leveraging its tech industries to weaken both adversaries and allies. Europeans are increasingly acknowledging the importance of reducing dependence on foreign digital technologies, with "digital sovereignty" becoming a bipartisan rallying cry. However, despite this recognition, effective detachment from foreign digital dependence remains a low priority for politicians and organizations. For example, the DGSI (France's internal security agency) renewed its use of the US software Palantir, and the Council of State confirmed funding Microsoft, giving them control over French health data. This raises the question of why such a critical sector is ceded to US providers, and how principles of telecommunications regulation, specifically interoperability, could offer a solution. Technological backwardness of European alternatives is a significant hurdle. Many alternative open-source software solutions lack the maturity, intuitive interfaces, functional completeness, and stability of their dominant counterparts like Google. This is often due to limited resources for development compared to the hundreds of billions invested by tech giants. This creates a "chicken and egg" problem: better software attracts more users, which in turn provides feedback and revenue for further improvement. As long as users rely on dominant US digital products, they reinforce their market position and technological superiority. However, not all dominant software is superior. Microsoft's products, for instance, are known for bugs despite high costs, and the US cybersecurity agency CISA issued a scathing report on Microsoft's security, suggesting a major breach they still don't understand. This indicates that the difficulty in regaining digital sovereignty isn't solely about the lack of better alternatives. A major impediment is "vendor lock-in." Switching digital providers, like migrating cloud services, involves a massive and often prohibitive logistical effort. This can make users reluctant to leave even subpar services. Yet, studies show high willingness to switch: 88% of French citizens and 96% of tech professionals would move to European equivalents. Even in the US, neoliberal thinkers recognize vendor lock-in as a significant market inefficiency, leading to antitrust lawsuits against Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. Network effects further strengthen vendor lock-in, especially in social media. Users flock to platforms like YouTube because content creators are there, and creators are there because the audience is there. This creates a collective trap, making it difficult to coordinate a mass migration to better alternatives, even when privacy concerns are significant, as seen with WhatsApp versus Signal. The former director of security at WhatsApp even sued the company for security failures, suggesting that remaining on WhatsApp is akin to exposing data to cybercrime. Interoperability offers a solution to these challenges. It would allow users to switch to alternative services like Signal while remaining connected to friends on WhatsApp, through legal obligations and technical standards. This is analogous to how Free and Orange subscribers can communicate. The concept can be extended to deep, granular interoperability for social media services, as exemplified by Blue Sky's AT protocol. Granular interoperability means breaking down complex digital systems into smaller, interchangeable components. For example, a phone's operating system (iOS or Android) controls access to core functions and pre-installs specific applications, creating vendor lock-in. This gives Apple and Google monumental competitive advantages, leading users to adopt their entire ecosystem by default. Similarly, social media platforms control content hosting, data collection, moderation, recommendation algorithms, and advertising, giving them a competitive edge across the entire value chain. This control fosters both vendor lock-in and network effects. Imagine a world where content creators can publish on any service (e.g., Free, Signal), and internet laws guarantee users can access this content from any application (e.g., Orange, WhatsApp). Furthermore, access applications could integrate any recommendation algorithm, moderation could be handled by different organizations, and personal data (subscriptions, preferences) could be stored with any service. This would revolutionize the social media economy. Content creators would be less dependent on platform policies, and users could adopt applications that better respect their privacy and allow more control over recommendation algorithms. Migration would become much simpler because network effects would be significantly weakened. Users could migrate incrementally, component by component. For instance, they could first change their personal data host, as demonstrated with the AT protocol by transferring data from Blue Sky to Eurosky, a European NGO not subject to extraterritorial US laws. This switch, taking minutes, protects data without changing user habits. Later, users could explore alternative recommendation AI or even switch their entire user application while retaining their connections and data, thanks to the granular separation of concerns. This "grain-by-grain" migration avoids the frustration and potential reversal of a full, abrupt platform change. Granular interoperability also benefits software development. For alternative video access applications like Nude Pipe or Tournesol, constant adaptation to YouTube's unilateral protocol changes is costly. With granular interoperability, developers could focus on specific components, like recommendation AIs, while other organizations handle data storage, content hosting, indexing, moderation, and user interfaces. This significantly reduces costs and fosters innovation across the entire social media value chain. Ultimately, this could lead to a single user application aggregating diverse content types (posts, videos, messages, blogs, podcasts) but acting merely as an interface, with all data, moderation, recommendations, and hosting handled by interchangeable, specialized providers. This model of granular interoperability is crucial for rebuilding a European information space free from US extraterritorial laws, which often conflict with European democratic standards, free market ideals, and technological innovation. From a liberal perspective, it's essential to prevent monopolies and their detrimental power, a concern even in the US where antitrust lawsuits are common. Europe has an even stronger interest in demanding granular interoperability to achieve digital independence from dominant US providers, especially given their proximity to what Macron terms a "new imperialism." Beyond liberal and sovereign arguments, granular interoperability offers regulatory benefits. By clearly defining digital product functionalities, regulation and enforcement become easier. Segmenting complex systems like social networks into distinct, interacting functionalities is also a fundamental cybersecurity principle, enhancing resilience. If components are diversified across different organizations, a breach in one application won't compromise the entire network, allowing users to switch seamlessly. Standardized protocols would also grant academic researchers equal access to data, including sensitive information, enabling better understanding of social network dynamics and systemic risks. This would address the current lack of independent research on potential harms, which is often hindered by platforms' data control. Granular interoperability, particularly through features like the AT protocol's "firehose," would also aid institutions like Viginum in detecting and countering foreign information interference by providing real-time access to network activities. Finally, granular interoperability supports a democratic digital environment by facilitating the development of solutions distinct from market logic. The feasibility of this approach has become more credible since February 2026, with increased legal pressure on social media and recommendation AIs in both Europe and the US. Recent rulings include a $6 million condemnation against Instagram and YouTube for addictiveness (with 1600 similar cases pending), an MTA sanction in the Netherlands requiring Instagram and Facebook to offer chronological feeds, and a $376 million fine in New Mexico for child protection failures related to sexual exploitation. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), a European regulation targeting "gatekeeper" information systems, is undergoing revision until May 3rd. It already mandates granular interoperability for operating systems, preventing Google Android from favoring its own applications. The Future of Technology Institute, Forensics X, and Tournesol are proposing an amendment to extend this requirement to "Social Networks" in Article 67 of the DMA. If passed, this simple addition could trigger a seismic shift, forcing granular interoperability on social media and dismantling the barriers that currently consolidate their monopolies by imposing exorbitant migration costs. While granular interoperability is essential for "degapizing" social media and potentially cloud services, it's not a complete solution. Users would still need to migrate to alternative, sometimes less polished, solutions. However, these alternatives often offer unique advantages, and adopting them is a civic gesture, similar to choosing sustainable transport or voting. It fosters personal autonomy and contributes to the digital resilience of citizens and democracies. Beyond individual actions, systemic changes are needed. Default settings on devices should favor free and open-source software (e.g., Linux instead of Windows, or open-source messaging, email, calendar, browser, and music apps on Android/iOS). This would drastically reduce reliance on US providers. Industrially, companies' dependence on foreign digital technologies, especially US ones, should be highlighted as a liability in financial and ESG reports. This recognizes the risk of price gouging due to vendor lock-in and the instability of relying on companies subject to chaotic US commercial strategies. Investing in open-source software is crucial for digital sovereignty. The current landscape makes it difficult for individuals to build a more free, interoperable, secure, and healthy digital environment, often forcing them to prioritize careers over democratic digital engagement. Increased public funding for actors in the democratic digital transition is vital. Public procurement with European preference and a clear ambition for an open, free, and interoperable ecosystem are necessary to reverse this trend. "Degapization" will be a long fight, but recent weeks have shown unprecedented mobilization and innovative ideas. Armed with granular interoperability, judicial power, and highly skilled engineers, Europe has the means to replace its digital dependence with a network of open, free, and interoperable solutions, offering true informational resilience. This path, a democratic co-construction, is far more inspiring than merely imitating existing monopolies. The call is to participate in this collective effort, whether by raising awareness, advocating for policy changes, or actively developing interoperable, decentralized social media components.