Google, Amazon, Apple – How to banish Trump-friendly tech companies from your everyday life

When Donald Trump was sworn into office on January 20, the heads of the major tech companies stood just a few meters away from him. Tim Cook from Apple was there, Jeff Bezos from Amazon and Sundar Pichai from Google. They had all donated millions beforehand. And some, like Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, had already changed their entire company concept to Trump's policies.

In view of the images, quite a few people warned of a tech oligarchy that could now spread across the United States. And Elon Musk in particular is doing everything he can these days to cement this image.

With his Doge organization, which consists of a group of young programmers, the tech billionaire and new Trump advisor is aggressively pushing forward the restructuring of the state. And many are worried that sensitive data from German citizens could also fall into Musk's hands. This could then be used to potentially punish political opponents, fears former official in Joe Biden's Treasury Department, Lily Batchelder .

The question arises as to what the restructuring of the USA also means for European Internet users. Because, at least virtually, many have close ties to the other side of the Atlantic: a large proportion of all services on one's own smartphone belong to large corporations such as Google, Apple, Meta or Amazon. Many of them have never been considered particularly data protection-friendly. But under Trump, the risk is growing that the services could become a real danger.

The first signs have been around for a long time. The new US government has recently repeatedly made digital services a bargaining chip. The US is said to have threatened Ukraine with shutting down Elon Musk's satellite internet service Starlink if no contract for the mining of rare earths is reached - Musk himself denied a corresponding Reuters report. Mark Zuckerberg recently indirectly threatened the EU that he wanted to take action against its regulations for platforms together with Trump. Private individuals and their data are therefore on board with such disputes.

Another danger could lie in US legislation. The so-called Cloud Act has been in place since 2018, for example, which requires American cloud providers to release data on the orders of courts or authorities. What's more, it also allows US authorities access to servers operated by US providers outside the USA. If you imagine that Musk and his Doge Ministry were to gain access to this data, it would be a dangerous attack on the privacy of billions of users.

It is therefore worth taking a look at possible alternatives to established US services. There are certainly a lot of them: Austrian software developer Oliver Graf has launched a website called "European Alternatives" . It collects apps that were developed in Europe and therefore also comply with European data standards.

Other collections, such as the website "Open Alternative" , collect services that were developed according to the open source principle. This means that the apps do not belong to a large corporation and do not serve a commercial purpose. Instead, they are often operated by non-profit foundations and further developed by the community. The open code of the products can also be viewed by anyone. This ensures that the services actually work properly.

In many cases, switching services is surprisingly easy - but in some cases, weaknesses in the alternative services quickly become apparent. An overview.

By far the most popular browser on smartphones and computers is Google Chrome. Although it is considered particularly secure, it also collects a lot of user data. When it comes to browser alternatives, users also quickly come across services from large US companies - such as Safari from Apple or Edge from Microsoft.

A better alternative, however, is offered by an old friend from the early days of the Internet: Mozilla Firefox . Although the operator is also based in the USA, Mozilla is a non-profit foundation and has made data protection its mission. The Firefox browser itself does not collect any user data and is also an open source model. Its operation does not differ significantly from the top dogs on the browser market.

The web browser Brave , which works with Google's open Chromium source code but is separated from Google services, is also considered to be data protection-friendly. For those who would rather avoid US products altogether, the website "European Alternatives" recommends the Vivaldi browser from Norway or the Mullvad browser from Sweden.

When it comes to email communication, no one is dependent on services from Google, Apple or Microsoft, as there are plenty of email providers - even in this country. Many German telephone and internet providers also offer their customers their own email services. Other established German services include Freenet and the brands that belong to the 1&1 group - such as GMX and Web.de.

The disadvantage: The user interface of the services often appears less modern and less tidy than that of the US companies. In addition, the free versions of some providers literally flood mailboxes and apps with advertising banners.

If data protection is particularly important, the services Mailbox.org and Posteo from Germany or Proton Mail from Switzerland are an alternative. However, some of them are subject to a fee. And here too, you occasionally come across complicated operating methods. For example, if you want to activate two-factor authentication at Mailbox.org, you first have to fight your way through an extremely complicated help page. In terms of user-friendliness, the European services still have some catching up to do.

If you are looking for European alternatives to Meta's Whatsapp, there is hardly any way around Threema from Switzerland. Anyone who wants to use the service does not have to provide a telephone number or email address. The service is also an open source service and does not collect any personal data.

The Signal service, which is backed by the non-profit US Signal Foundation, represents very similar values. Both services offer most of the functions that the established WhatsApp messenger has. The only disadvantage: in both cases, switching only works if the person you are talking to plays along and also moves.

When searching the web, it is particularly difficult to do without the familiar environment of Google. But a change is possible here too: DuckDuckGo proved to be particularly reliable in the test by the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND). Although the service comes from Pennsylvania in the United States, it is not owned by a large tech company and does not collect any personal information.

A European alternative is Startpage from the Netherlands. The search engine gets its results from Google, but anonymizes these search queries so that data protection is guaranteed.

If you have an iPhone or Android smartphone, the quickest way to get to the cloud is usually Apple's iCloud or Google Drive. Another popular service is Dropbox, which is also operated in the USA.

But there are also alternatives from Europe. Proton Drive, for example, proved to be safe and useful in the RND test. The Swiss software company has always placed a special focus on security and data protection - and yet the service does not compromise on convenience. For example, it is possible to automatically save smartphone photos in the cloud and search through them using a special photo tab.

The website “European Alternatives” also lists Koofr from Slovenia, Jottacloud from Norway and Internxt from Spain as other European cloud alternatives.

The search for a suitable map app alternative is more complicated. Google Maps, with all its data and functions, has been the undisputed leader for years - and in many cases is almost irreplaceable.

However, a possible alternative for navigation is the Here WeGo service, which was originally developed by Nokia and is now owned by a consortium of German car companies, including Audi, BMW and Daimler. However, the app revealed weaknesses in the test: the route itself is reliable, but the navigation voice sounds artificial and does not come close to the announcements from Google Maps. On Android in conjunction with Android Auto, the app also suddenly crashes.

The Amigo app from the Dutch navigation manufacturer Tomtom runs much more smoothly. The problem: The app is designed solely for car drivers and therefore does not offer any cycling or pedestrian routes.

In addition to the commercial European alternatives, there are also apps based on the open source Open Street Maps. These include OsmAnd from the Netherlands and Organic Maps from Estonia.

When it comes to smartphones, it is not difficult to rely on a manufacturer outside the USA. In fact, one of the best-known smartphone manufacturers, Samsung, comes from South Korea.

The problem: No matter which device you buy, it will inevitably be delivered with one of the two major US operating systems: iOS (Apple) or Android (Google). Android itself, however, is an open source system from which Google can theoretically be locked out. Some developers take advantage of this.

One of these is Volla Systeme from Remscheid. The manufacturer offers a Google-free Android with Volla OS and associated devices. However, the classic Google app store is also missing here.

Ubuntu is also active in the alternative operating system market. The developer company that provides the Linux operating system on computers operates the Ubuntu Touch service for smartphones. However, anyone who wants to install an alternative operating system inevitably needs more technical understanding than when changing an app.