'A surprising number of them said, “Yes.”': Study finds many customers would leave a business which stays loyal to US big tech services

Many European consumers actively avoid American tech giants for privacy reasonsSocial media and cloud storage are priorities for consumersEU companies only have 15% of the European cloud market

Four in five European consumers say it matters whether or not businesses use European technology, confirming that digital sovereignty has now become a priority for the masses.

A study by Proton of 3,000 UK, France and Germany consumers shows that they’re beginning to view a company’s digital infrastructure as part of its brand and values, rather than a back-office decision that has no impact on customers.

As a result, nearly half (45%) said they would actively avoid companies that store customer data with US firms, with more concern over privacy and security than price or quality.

Digital sovereignty speaks volumes to consumers

This also aligns with European Commission ‘Eurobarometer’ data revealing that three-fifths (58%) of the bloc’s citizens would be willing to switch to an EU-based digital service provider, even if that meant paying a higher fee.

The report argues this reliance on US hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft, Google and Meta can no longer be seen as a neutral business decision in the eyes of European customers, who are increasingly concerned over privacy, surveillance and geopolitical dependence.

Social media (48%), email (46%), messaging apps (40%) and other services that directly handle personal communications and information were seen as the most at-risk among consumers, Proton found. Other than communications, cloud storage (38%) was another great worry, along with browsers (31%).

Two in three (65%) now also believe that European small businesses should prioritize European tech providers over US ones, and not from a supporting local companies point of view. Consumers are more interested by sovereignty, keeping investments within Europe and reducing reliance on foreign tech vendors.

As many as four in five (83%) now worry about society’s dependence on Big Tech and how a small number of hyperscalers now dominate the market. Attitudes have shifted rapidly, Proton says, because of deteriorating US-Europe geopolitical tensions and the continued debate over US surveillance laws which prevent vendors from being able to fully offer sovereign options.

The US CLOUD Act is a specific worry for European citizens, because it allows US law enforcement to access data held by American technology companies, even if it’s stored within European data centers.

Customer data use is also a growing concern, where their information may be being used to train AI models that only serve to help those US giants.

The reality of US tech reliance

All of this comes amid growing US dependence, with three-quarters (74%) of publicly listed European companies relying on US tech providers, per an earlier Proton report.

Google and Microsoft alone account for 84% of the global office productivity market, with Amazon, Microsoft and Google jointly taking up a 66% of the cloud market. Proton’s full report details how European providers only hold a collective 15% of the European cloud market.

“Buying tech from the US used to seem like a no brainer,” Proton COO Raphael Auphan admitted, indicating an understanding of why European consumers are so deeply reliant on US software.

Tariffs on European exports, NATO tensions and American criticism over EU regulation – all of which falling under Trump’s presidency – are to blame, the Swiss company says.

But Auphan now describes relying on US tech as a “commercial liability” for businesses. “It's increasingly clear that consumers care about digital supply chains, and US tech is becoming a weak link.”

“The EU runs on Microsoft,” Finnish MEP Aura Sally said at the 2026 Open Source Policy Summit. “The US could turn us off inside one hour.”

However, an overnight migration away from US hyperscalers isn’t such an easy move, and while Proton is trying to offer some paths with the recent addition of Gmail migration with zero downtime, a full stack move could take years, buying well-funded American tech giants time to come up with more regional solutions to prevent customers from wanting to migrate in the first place.