The tech news no one wants, but hey, it’s “Make America Go Away” o’clock

Europeans turning away from Silicon Valley tech has exploded into a full-blown “Make America Go Away” movement. It may have started because of privacy concerns, but it is now a political stance.

We used to love the news about the Kremlin’s attempts to build alternatives to Western tech, be it its own firewall or its own version of GitHub.

But in the current geopolitical climate, with tensions between the US and Europe rising, we are starting to build our own fortress.

Last week, our most successful story discussed how Europeans are ditching US-made technology and going local. Various tech swap lists have been trending on the continent. From web analytics services to navigation apps, instant messaging apps, and team communication services, privacy-concerned users, as well as those turning away from the US because of its political stance, are making the switch.

This week, the most discussed topic within our community is also politically loaded. European organizations are set to launch their own social media platform as an alternative to Elon Musk's X. The European social network, supported by an advisory board of former ministers and business representatives, will be called W, standing for "We."

With data being hosted decentrally in Europe by European companies and the platform adhering to EU data protection laws, W sounds like a great initiative. But it’s hard to engage in the topic without considering the wider context. The US President, Donald Trump, has just announced a fresh round of tariffs on several European nations for resisting his plans to take over Greenland, which is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Have thoughts about this topic? Others do, too. Join them in the discussion.

Nor can we discuss the feud between Elon Musk and Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, without considering the current geopolitical climate. O’Leary ruled out the use of Starlink internet on Ryanair planes, saying it would be too expensive and that its clients would never pay an extra euro per plane ticket.

“I would pay no attention to Elon Musk, he’s an idiot. Very wealthy, but still an idiot,” O’Leary said on the radio show Newstalk.

O'Leary used the momentum, as could be expected, for marketing and announced a “big idiot seat sale.” He even called a press conference to “address Elon Musk's Twitter tantrum,” taking a jab at Musk over the recent scandal involving Grok, in which the billionaire's AI tool was abused to generate nudes of women and children in mere seconds.

If not for Musk’s worldview, do you think O’Leary would oppose the Starlink internet on board so much? We’ve used Starlink on airBaltic’s planes and can tell that a free connection in the sky, without logins, pop-ups, or attempts to capture personal data, feels like a luxury.

It might not even be as expensive to operate flights with Starlink dishes as O’Leary assumes.

Anyway, with the Make America Go Away sentiment growing in Europe, it will surely impact technology as well, with prices sure to be affected by tariffs or a surge of alternatives to US-made gadgets and applications.

A few other reads that I thought you might enjoy:

• “Make America Go Away” hats selling out as Trump threatens Greenland
• EU alternative to US-led CVE vulnerability database is now live
• Skyrocketing RAM and storage costs push entry-level PC prices into four-digit territory
• Tech hero releases tool that disables AI, ads, and other junk in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox
• The 2016 social media trend is a goldmine for AI data training

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