US tech giants warn Europe that ditching US tech giants could cost €115B
https://www.theregister.com/paas-and-iaas/2026/10/14/us-tech-giants-warn-europe-that-ditching-us-tech-giants-could-cost-115b/5303031
Amazon, Google, Meta among members of lobby group funding dire warnings over cloud sovereignty plans.
So Europeans switching to European tech could cost US tech giants €115B? That's a great result...
@kim_harding how much would it cost Europe if Trump soils his nappy and shuts off Europe from US clouds? That’s the real question.
@kim_harding let’s assume for a second that the lobby group is correct and it would cost EU govs €115 billion over ten years. The EU has a population of 452 million , so that’s €25 per year per inhabitant. If anything that’s a bargain for being independent and using software developed locally.
@kim_harding if I was a minister I’d lobby like hell to move away from US companies now, make it a condition that the companies providing the services do it on open source software and a minimum % of staff based in the EU, and you’d have a competitive environment to create a thriving ecosystem.
That's the reason they're doing it. They've woken up to the realisation that Trump has no qualms about pulling any lever of power at his disposal to make others do what he wants.
@kim_harding @aburgerabz See peeps, the answer is just that simple … and easy, just stop using the #TechBros shite! Their ca-ca is not oxygen, you can live without it.
@kim_harding The slop video would be more convincing if the bow were moving above the bridge. I mean, you *can* play on the other side, but it sounds awful.
Just saying.
@kim_harding
Sure, they don't want to lose that much business, so they'll say and do whatever they think helps keeping European users on board.
Even if that was the financial cost to European Nations in the short term, the security it gives Europe (that as we can now see we desperately need) and the long term the money we save from sending to the yanks would make much more than than a great investment
https://nebula.tv/videos/reallifelore-why-canada-isnt-part-of-the-us
AS the Canadians are learning to their cost now the US are not to be trusted
@kim_harding Tardigrades really getting around these days!
Oct 15, 2026, 10:53 AM@kim_harding Am already giving it a try, in my personal environment:
Lucky start: Never fell for TechBro antisocial media platforms, saved me quite some pain
2012 - Systematic Browser Adblocking
2019 - Pi-hole DNS level blocking in my home network
2020 - Mastodon trial, promoting Pi-hole among family and friends
2021 - Moved to Libre Office (all OS), first Linux Mint test machine
2025 - Last Windows 10 replaced w/ Linux Mint, M$ account killed, DNS-blacklisted Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft & similar enshittification crapshit. An isolated MacBook remains for internal use.
2026 Now waiting for delivery of my Jolla Phone to clear out that end, too
So far, all this cost me just €90 for Pi-hole hardware. The phone adds 600-something - not too bad.
The journey continues... :ablobcatneon:
Also, if that is their maximum plausible "threatening" number, that's actually not that scary, relative to total European ICT expenditure of well over a trillion, especially if it's a one-off. I'd treat this as an active encouragement.
@kim_harding GOOD
Oct 15, 2026, 11:50 AMAre these the same US tech companies that actively supported the Trump regime? And helped him get reelected?
I believe this is technically known as the ‘FO phase’.
Oct 15, 2026, 11:50 AM@kim_harding
The tech bros can go fuck themselves. Fuck USA! Europe first, buy european!
@kim_harding the bastards are getting scared 😁
Oct 15, 2026, 1:06 PM@kim_harding warning, that money could be invested in *your* countries
@kim_harding In the immortal words of Capt Picard:
@kim_harding The correct response to such a warning is "So, what's your point?"
I wish Australia would retake our own scientific sovereignty. CSIRO practically invented wifi, and now our government has contracts with Amazon to store all our most top secret information (among a great many other things), which pretty much makes us a vassal state to Amazon.
They are barking up the wrong tree, if the WH was not so aggressive it would protect their interest better.
🐕
@kim_harding The same tech companies who attended his innauguration donated to his campaign, donated for his illegal ballroom. Sorry, but they can't complain abouit the world reacting exactly as anyone would have predicted based on their and their leader's behaviour.
Microsoft cutting off ICC because Trump has a tantrum was always a very dangerous precedent.
Sovereignty isn't cheap. Similar to the US food supply, healthier options are more expensive than processed garbage. By design? Higher upfront costs, and a helluva lot more work, but free from vendor hostage. BigTech is a silent killer.
Oct 15, 2026, 2:15 PM
@kim_harding lets get on with it. You can't by freedom.
Oct 15, 2026, 2:18 PM@kim_harding As we're watching in real time, #NATO was never an umbrella for Europe... it was a cage.
It's way over time that Europe really focus and bets on "Union" and tackle all dependencies from US or any other dictatorship in disguise. Heck,we're over 600 million citizens, people!
@kim_harding Hmmmm. This sounds like the same argument that the petroleum monopolists made about replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. It’s funny how they can ascribe cause and effect, but only from a singular, self benefitting perspective.
@kim_harding Also: Whoever made this meme doesn't understand how string instruments work.
Oct 15, 2026, 4:59 PM@kim_harding
We should compare the current operating cost (licenses and instability) to the ditching cost. I'm not even sure it will be a net cost.
And even if it was the case, this money would go into European businesses. Full circle 💪.
Oct 15, 2026, 7:06 PM@Teratogenese @kim_harding That's the thing that gets me. Sure there's a very clear safety and sovereignty incentive (though accelerated under Trump if we're honest it was always there) but the billions upon billions of euros we pay into the US economy instead of our own - how on earth did anyone ever think this was a good idea?
@thisislieven *stares in No Capital Markets Union*
Now take that and apply it to bonds/pension funds/capital markets (you'll never guess which country blocks completion of the CMU so EU investors can stop pouring hundreds of billions into the US and start investing in the EU instead...)
Oct 15, 2026, 5:15 PM@kim_harding That looks more like a double bass than a violin. 😆
Oct 15, 2026, 5:57 PM@kim_harding those are rookie numbers!!! Make them bigger! 😉
@kim_harding Did they forget to deduct shat we would be saving on license costs? Just asking for a friend.
@kim_harding nice of them to put a number on vendor lock-in
@kim_harding i think they’d also calculated how much EU would have to invest to migrate, build datacenters etc. which I think is wonderful bc it will be EU money supporting EU business, Let’s Go!
Not quite. That figure is supposed to be the migration costs, not lost revenue. It was not done independently but by an organisation the techbros fund to represent them. Doh!
The benefits to offset or totally eclipse this are more to the point. I make some in a comment on that article as to getting this number. Send me the figure you want and a cheque (10% should suffice) and I'll provide a verified justification by my official 'organisation'.
Simples as the techbros must think we are.
