France has announced an ambitious plan to enhance its digital sovereignty by transitioning away from American video meeting platforms, including industry giants like Microsoft Teams and Zoom. This strategic initiative involves the development and full implementation of a homegrown alternative, named Visio, across all government agencies by 2027. The Visio platform is designed to handle conferencing needs with data hosted by French provider Outscale, while local firms will manage transcripts and subtitles, thereby ensuring national control over sensitive digital infrastructure.

This significant move by France has sparked considerable debate within online communities, drawing commentary from prominent figures such as Sridhar Vembu, co-founder of Zoho. Vembu weighed in on the discussion, passionately advocating for 'technology sovereignty' as sovereign nations increasingly seek to assert greater control over their digital domains. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Vembu articulated his perspective by drawing a bold comparison between contemporary Big Tech companies and the historical East India Company. He commended Europe's growing awareness of the potential risks associated with foreign technology dominance, while also highlighting a sense of historical irony in the current situation. Vembu's remarks were specifically made in response to a post that detailed France's decision to phase out US-based platforms.

Elaborating on his stance, Vembu stated, "The very definition of a 'sovereign nation' should now include technology sovereignty." He continued by asserting, "Big Tech now is the New East India company and Europeans are now waking up to it. History seems to rhyme with irony (sic)." Vembu's comparison implies that modern technology giants, through their control over data and digital infrastructure, wield a power over markets that is analogous to the control exerted by colonial powers like the British and French East India Companies over various regions, including India, in previous centuries, without explicitly stating the historical parallel directly.

Vembu's post quickly went viral, prompting strong reactions and engagement from both users and industry observers. Many respondents urged him to accelerate the development and broader rollout of Zoho’s own privacy-focused tools. Specifically, some of his followers questioned why Zoho was not more actively promoting its utility software suite, particularly Arattai, within India. In response to these inquiries, Vembu clarified, "We are updating Arattai weekly. We will make a big push once we reach a certain level of feature compatibility and differentiation." He also underscored the complex and long-term nature of achieving comprehensive technological sovereignty, estimating that it could take anywhere from 5 to 15 years, citing the sophisticated technologies involved, such as EUV machines essential for semiconductor manufacturing. Another user echoed these sentiments, observing that in the 21st century, sovereignty extends beyond traditional borders and armies to encompass "data, platforms, and standards." This user characterized Europe's historical reliance on foreign Big Tech as a "strategic risk" and termed the phenomenon "Tech colonialism," noting that while its manifestation is different, the underlying power dynamics remain strikingly familiar.