In a stark admission that undermines years of privacy assurances, Microsoft’s legal director in France, Anton Carniaux, told a Senate inquiry that the company cannot guarantee data hosted for French entities would be shielded from foreign government requests. As detailed in a French Senate report covered by Brussels Signal, Carniaux explicitly stated when questioned: “No, I can’t guarantee that” French citizens’ data wouldn’t be transmitted to authorities like those in the US without French consent. This revelation cuts to the core of data sovereignty promises made by tech giants to European clients.

The Legal Reality Behind Cloud Security

Microsoft’s testimony confirms that technical measures like encryption are ultimately subordinate to US laws such as the CLOUD Act, which allows federal agencies to compel data access from American firms—even when stored overseas. As noted by analyst Luis Rijo, this isn’t an isolated flaw but a structural vulnerability: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and other hyperscale providers operate under identical legal frameworks. This creates a systemic risk where European data, entrusted to US-based cloud infrastructure, remains perpetually exposed to extraterritorial demands.

Ben Werdmuller emphasizes the broader implications: "Reliance on US services has become a point of vulnerability for everyone. This should be a concern regardless of American leadership; under the current administration, it’s become a frequent topic of conversation for security leaders."

A Broken Oversight System

The US established the Data Protection Review Court under the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to address European concerns, but the mechanism is effectively paralyzed. As Werdmuller highlights, the board now has only one member—a Republican appointee—after three Democratic members were ousted, rendering it non-functional. With no transparency on whether cases are being heard, the framework intended to provide checks and balances is shrouded in secrecy, eroding trust in cross-border data governance.

For developers and enterprises, this underscores the urgent need to reevaluate cloud strategies. Encryption alone cannot mitigate legal overreach, forcing organizations to weigh geopolitical risks when choosing providers. The incident amplifies calls for robust European cloud alternatives and stronger data localization policies, as the very foundations of digital sovereignty appear increasingly fragile in a world dominated by US tech giants.