Tech Will Not Divide Europe and America
Thoughts about technology that is inclusive, trusted, and creates a more sustainable world
These posts represent my personal views on the future of the digital economy powered by the cloud and artificial intelligence. Unless otherwise indicated, they do not represent the official views of Microsoft.
There is much talk in the media these days about what many see as a growing gulf in strategic interests between Europe and the United States. Last month, a journalist writing in one of Europe’s leading newspapers quoted an American commentator’s blunt assessment that “It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world.” The journalist makes clear that he shares this opinion, arguing that the “high summer” of the alliance between Europe and America is “long in the past.”
As it happens, the American commentator quoted in this Financial Times article was the neoconservative author Robert Kagan writing 18 years ago on the eve of the Iraq war. So it would seem that rumors of trans-Atlantic discord are nothing new. One could go back much further in time to find examples of trans-Atlantic divergences, some quite major and sometimes also pitting European nations against each other. For example, in 1989 American President George H.W. Bush championed the idea that German reunification after the fall of the Berlin wall “would be in the fundamental interest of the West,” while British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Francois Mitterrand expressed deep reservations about its wisdom. But three decades later it would occur to no one on either side of the Atlantic to doubt that the reunification of Germany, by signaling a definitive end to the Cold War, marked one of the great triumphs of western democracy.
Today the issues that separate Europe and the US, although real, feel less momentous than those of 1989. The role of large US tech firms in Europe is certainly the most talked-about of these issues. These firms make up what the European press likes to call the GAFAM—that is, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. European policymakers have raised questions about the ability of these firms to comply with what Europe regards as the legitimate “rules of the game” governing access to the continent’s vast market for consumer and enterprise digital services. These policymakers’ concerns focus on the privacy of personal data, the rules under which law enforcement agencies on one side of the ocean can access cloud data stored on the other, and the question of how to ensure a level playing field for European firms who hope to thrive in markets where US players have acquired leading positions.
I can’t speak for the official views of my employer Microsoft (this is a personal blog), and I have no special insight into the strategic thinking of the other GAFAM members. But I am familiar with the efforts that many of my colleagues at Microsoft are making to demonstrate the firm’s desire to play by Europe’s rules, and I would like to make the case that there is no unbridgeable gulf between Europe and the US on the values that matter most to us all.
US tech firms must take European concerns seriously and give them the attention they merit. Europe, as I’ve often argued in this blog, is emerging as the world’s de facto regulator of online privacy, and it may soon extend its regulatory influence to other areas of the digital sphere as well, such as AI ethics. US tech firms that can adjust their products and business practices to meet the expectations of policymakers in Brussels, Paris, and Berlin will be in a stronger position to serve the rest of the world. At the same time, Europe has much to gain from the unique assets that a US tech firm with global reach and sharing the same values can bring to the continent’s economy and the welfare of its citizens.
Let me enumerate some of the key areas where I believe there is a fundamental convergence between Microsoft’s practices and Europe’s core values. Here are three examples:
Privacy. Microsoft has made an extraordinary effort to build GDPR support into its many software products and cloud services. This was a herculean undertaking that mobilized thousands of engineers and lawyers over several years. The company has even decided, as Chief Privacy Office Julie Brill explains in the blog post linked just above, to “extend the Data Subject Rights that are at the heart of GDPR to all of our consumer customers worldwide.”
Sustainable economic growth. In her recent European State of the Union address, EC President Ursula von der Leyen promised “A world where we use digital technologies to build a healthier, greener society.” Embracing this same objective, Microsoft’s leaders earlier this year announced an unprecedented commitment to make the firm’s entire global business operations carbon negative by 2030. That means that Microsoft will not merely become carbon neutral, but will take responsibility for actually removing more carbon from the earth’s atmosphere than it puts in. This effort includes building more than a dozen highly efficient, environmentally friendly data centers in Europe.
Defense of democracy through cybersecurity. As every reader of this blog knows, not a day goes by without a new cyberattack by some rogue group or other on the institutions of democratic nations. Because of the unparalleled scale of its global operations, a firm like Microsoft can do more to protect nations and individuals than purely regional or national firms. Each month Microsoft’s engineers analyze literally trillions of signals in search of the telltale traces of cyberattacks. In September Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center blocked attacks by groups from Iran, China, and Russia on both US Presidential campaigns. Just last week this same elite cybersecurity unit disrupted an Iranian attack on the upcoming Munich Security Conference and the Think 20 Summit in Saudi Arabia. Attacks like these are not going to stop any time soon, and Microsoft’s leaders have made it clear that they will work closely with democratic nations to share the benefits of the company’s cyber defense capabilities.
Global monthly volume of signals analyzed by Microsoft cybersecurity operations
If I had more space I could add many more examples to this list. I could mention Microsoft’s deep commitment to building ethical AI, which aligns closely with European views. I could cite the vital assistance that Microsoft provides to European law enforcement agencies in the fight against child sexual abuse and other serious crimes. I’ll revisit these topics another day.
Every national and regional market today is inextricably embedded in a global economy served by global networks that can no longer be completely disentangled from one another. Every national government has the right and indeed the duty to establish and enforce laws within its territory that protect the vital interests of its citizens. But as the European Union recognized long ago, no nation can stand alone. This is as true of supranational entities like the EU as it is of continental nations like the United States. As EC President von der Leyen recently put it from the European point of view,
“We might not always agree with decisions in Washington. But we will always cherish the transatlantic alliance—based on shared values and history, and an unbreakable bond between our peoples.”
Just as Europe and the US continue to share and put into practice the same fundamental values, so too a global tech firm like Microsoft must make it its mission to serve the prosperity of the national and supranational markets where it is allowed to do business. In the words of former Danish diplomat and now Microsoft’s VP for European Government Affairs Casper Klynge discussing the EU’s pandemic recovery plans:
“Microsoft stands ready to bring the best of our technology and expertise to the table alongside the important efforts of many other stakeholders to help Europeans emerge from this current crisis stronger and better equipped than before.”