France to replace US video conferencing with domestic alternatives

And it'll be hosted on French infrastructure

France plans to stop using US-based video conferencing platforms across its government departments by 2027.

Under the plan, a domestically developed video meeting service known as Visio will become the standard tool for public servants, with full adoption expected next year.

After that date, the state will no longer renew external videoconferencing licences for platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Cisco WebEx and Google Meet.

The decision is part of a broader strategy by the government to reduce reliance on foreign technology providers, particularly those based in the United States, and to regain control over sensitive digital infrastructure.

Governments and businesses rushed to adopt video conferencing platforms in the Covid pandemic to support remote and hybrid working. French officials now argue this dependence has gone too far.

France's minister for the civil service and state reform, David Amiel, said the government had become "excessively dependent" on overseas tools and that ending their use was essential to protect internal discussions.

"The aim is to end the use of non-European solutions and guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications by relying on a powerful and sovereign tool," he said.

What is Visio?

Visio has been developed by the government's Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs and has been in testing for around a year.

It currently has about 40,000 users and will become the default, and eventually exclusive, videoconferencing platform for civil servants.

The service forms part of France's wider Suite Numérique programme, which aims to build a secure digital ecosystem for the public sector as an alternative to widely used US services such as Gmail and Slack.

The tools are designed solely for state use and are not available to the general public or private companies.

Visio will eventually include AI features such as automated meeting transcripts and speaker identification, using technology developed by French start-up Pyannote.

It is hosted on a sovereign cloud operated by Outscale, a subsidiary of French software company Dassault Systèmes. Officials say this ensures data remains under national jurisdiction.

And it’s not just for security: the government estimates switching to Visio could save up to €1m (£850,000) per year for every 100,000 users.

Large sections of the public sector, such as tax and social security authorities, have already begun migrating to the platform.

Part of a wider shift

France's move comes amid growing debate across Europe about reliance on US technology firms, particularly following a series of cloud service outages last year and the murky geopolitical situation.

Last year, Denmark announced plans to phase out Microsoft software in parts of its public administration.

Major municipalities such as Copenhagen and Aarhus have also said they plan to move away from Microsoft systems, pointing to rising costs, concerns over market dominance, and political tensions with the US government.

In Germany, the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein is replacing Microsoft Office with open-source alternatives and plans a longer-term shift towards Linux-based systems.

NGOs are getting in on the act, too: the International Criminal Court announced plans to move its systems to German-developed open source platform OpenDesk last year.

French officials say the Visio project demonstrates how digital sovereignty can serve both security and economic goals.

"We cannot risk having our scientific exchanges, our sensitive data and our strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors," Mr Amiel said.

"Digital sovereignty is simultaneously an imperative for our public services, an opportunity for our businesses, and insurance against future threats."

For a project with such lofty goals, it’s a shame that the French state forgot about branding: Microsoft has used the Visio name on a graphics software package for years.