TECH

The UK is being advised to disconnect from American tech giants as fears grow over digital sovereignty

The Open Rights Group is warning politicians that the UK is relying too heavily on American tech companies to operate critical systems and wants the Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill to force a reconsideration.

The digital rights organization says the bill, due to be read for the second time in the House of Commons today, represents a rare opportunity to force the government to confront what it considers a strategic blind spot: the UK's reliance on companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and data analytics firm Palantir for everything from cloud hosting to sensitive public sector systems.

"Just as relying on a single country to supply the UK's energy needs would be risky and irresponsible, so too would relying excessively on American companies to provide the bulk of our digital infrastructure," said James Baker, energy program manager for platforms at the Open Rights Group. He argued that digital infrastructure has become an extension of geopolitical power and that the UK is increasingly vulnerable to decisions made far beyond Westminster's control.

"Now, more than ever, the UK needs to build and protect sovereignty over its digital infrastructure and not become vulnerable to the policies and actions of foreign powers like the US and China," Baker added. While the US remains a close ally, he stated that its growing willingness to use economic and technological influence to achieve political and military objectives should give British lawmakers pause for thought.

"The Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill is an opportunity to improve the UK's control over its infrastructure," he added.

The ORG points to several recent cases where control over digital infrastructure has been used as an instrument of political pressure.

One of the cases cited in its report involves the International Criminal Court, which reportedly found itself affected by US sanctions policy. After former US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the court due to the arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reports emerged that Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's email account had been blocked. Microsoft denied cutting off access, but the ICC later confirmed that, in October 2025, it had stopped using Microsoft services altogether, migrating to openDesk, a European open-source platform.

Another episode dates back to 2022, when the American agricultural giant John Deere remotely disabled tractors stolen by Russian forces from a Ukrainian dealership. The action was widely celebrated at the time, but it also revealed that the same remote "security button" could, under political pressure, be used against customers anywhere in the world.

Closer to home, the ORG points to the UK's own experience with Huawei. Equipment from the Chinese networking giant is being removed from British networks after strong pressure from the US government. The episode, argues the ORG, shows how strategic dependencies can quickly turn into problems.

The ORG states that ministers need to think more about what happens when things go wrong, such as a major supplier dropping out or foreign laws preventing UK access to data. The organization argues that these risks should be considered from the outset, when the government approves key digital systems.

The group's argument is that security often seems adequate until politics enters the picture. Systems can be extremely secure and fully certified, but still have flaws if they rely on certain foreign suppliers, closed platforms that cannot be quickly replaced, or cloud services that ultimately answer to legislators from another country.

The proposed solution is nothing extravagant. The ORG wants the government to more strongly adopt open-source software and interoperable systems, reducing dependence on suppliers and making it easier to replace them when relationships deteriorate. The advantage, according to the organization, is that more UK companies would finally have the chance to compete for public sector contracts, instead of seeing the same multinationals, such as AWS and Microsoft, being automatically chosen.

The timing of this choice is no accident. Similar arguments are occurring throughout Europe, where governments are increasingly apprehensive about the amount of digital infrastructure that is now in the hands of American hyperscalers.

Whether the UK views this as a warning sign or simply the price of convenience is a question that parliamentarians will now have to answer.

Reporter: Carly Page is a freelance technology journalist, editor, and copywriter with more than a decade of experience in the industry. Bylines include Forbes, IT Pro, TechCrunch, TES, Uswitch, WIRED, and more.