France to ban officials from US video tools including Zoom, Teams

PARIS — France will ban public officials from using American platforms including Google Meet, Zoom and Teams for videoconferencing, a spokesperson told POLITICO.

The decision, part of an effort to shift government activities onto a home-grown technology platform, comes amid rising sensitivity in Europe about the deep reliance on U.S. services.

The prime minister’s office has prepared a notice requiring state officials to use Visio, a videoconferencing software designed by the country’s Interministerial Digital Authority (Dinum). It runs on infrastructure provided by the French company Outscale.

The notice will be published “in the next few days,” a spokesperson from Dinum said.

That follows an announcement on Sunday by the Minister for State Reform David Amiel that France would target the adoption of a home-grown videoconferencing platform by 2027.

France last summer mandated that officials get off WhatsApp and Telegram and instead use Tchap, an instant messaging service designed exclusively for civil servants.

Visio is already used by 40,000 staff — including most ministries and some of their subsidiaries, such as the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

Dinum is aiming for 250,000 users. The department will monitor compliance with the transition and may, in the coming months, block flows from other video tools through the state’s internet network, it said.