France’s government has made a decisive move to eliminate foreign videoconferencing platforms from its operations, rejecting Zoom and Microsoft Teams in favor of a domestically controlled alternative.
On January 26, 2026, France announced the nationwide rollout of “Visio,” a sovereign videoconferencing solution developed by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), with full deployment across all government agencies by 2027.
The decision reflects growing concerns about data sovereignty and the security risks of relying on non-European technology for sensitive government communications.
French officials, including Minister Delegate David Amiel, emphasized that maintaining classified exchanges and strategic information on external infrastructure poses an unacceptable national security risk.
Currently, multiple government departments operate fragmented solutions including Teams, Zoom, GoTo Meeting, and Webex, a situation that weakens data protection and creates strategic dependencies on American technology providers.
Visio addresses these vulnerabilities through a security-first architecture. The platform is hosted on SecNumCloud-labeled infrastructure at Outscale, a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, ensuring data remains within French territory.
The solution incorporates advanced security standards aligned with ANSSI (the French cybersecurity agency) guidelines and leverages French technologies for critical functions including artificial intelligence-powered meeting transcription using Pyannote and real-time subtitling via Kyutai, a French AI research laboratory.
The pilot program, launched one year ago, demonstrates operational maturity. Visio now supports 40,000 regular users with 200,000 employees transitioning to the platform.
Leading adopters include the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), which will replace 34,000 Zoom licenses by March 2026, the French National Health Insurance Fund, the Directorate General of Public Finances, and the Ministry of Armed Forces.
Financial incentives further strengthen the business case. France projects €1 million in annual savings for every 100,000 users migrating from licensed solutions, making the transition economically rational alongside security objectives.
This cost reduction directly offsets infrastructure investments required for sovereign deployment.
The Visio initiative exemplifies a broader European movement toward digital autonomy. By controlling communication infrastructure, France eliminates exposure to foreign government pressure, corporate data harvesting, and potential supply chain vulnerabilities affecting American vendors.
This approach prioritizes resilience over convenience, recognizing that strategic communications require domestic control.
The transition carries implementation challenges, including user adoption across diverse agencies and technical interoperability requirements.
However, the government’s commitment to complete deployment by 2027 signals serious intent to establish a new standard for public sector communications.
France’s decision will likely influence other European nations considering similar sovereignty measures, particularly regarding sensitive government communications and compliance with data protection regulations.
The success of Visio could reshape European government technology procurement away from American platforms toward domestically controlled alternatives.
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