The EU's new Tech Sovereignty Plan claims to support open source and digital autonomy, but in practice directs most resources toward semiconductors, cloud, AI, and data centres. The Fediverse and federated social infrastructure receive almost no attention — the flagship example being an expansion of the EU's existing Mastodon server. The author argues that genuine digital sovereignty requires investment in open social protocols, federated communication infrastructure, community governance, and public digital commons — not just sovereign hardware and cloud. Without this, Europe risks building sovereign pipes that still funnel citizens into the same corporate platforms. The post also reflects on whether to engage with slow-moving institutions or abandon them, concluding that building alternatives while pressuring existing institutions is the least dangerous path.
