Clearview AI: Defying European Law
In 2026, the debate over digital privacy and surveillance has reached a boiling point. Companies like Clearview AI and Palantir continue to dominate headlines, not for innovation, but for their aggressive, often unchecked, data scraping and surveillance practices. These corporations have long exploited their first-mover advantage, shaping industry standards and regulatory frameworks in their favor, often at the expense of public trust and democratic values.
Clearview AI’s story is one of persistent defiance. Despite repeated fines and bans from European regulators, including a €30.5 million fine from the Dutch Data Protection Authority in 2024 and cumulative fines exceeding €100 millionfrom France, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands, the company has continued to scrape billions of facial images from the internet, building a database used by law enforcement and government agencies worldwide. In a bold move, the Austrian privacy organization noyb filed a criminal complaint in 2025 against Clearview AI’s leadership, seeking personal accountability and potential prison sentences for its executives. The complaint underscores that Clearview AI has “effectively evaded” GDPR sanctions, continuing to collect and sell access to facial images without consent.
The company’s argument, that it is not subject to European law due to its lack of physical presence in the region, has been repeatedly rejected by EU authorities. Yet enforcement remains a challenge, as fines against non-EU companies with no local assets are difficult to collect. This legal loophole allows Clearview AI to operate with impunity, undermining the GDPR’s global reach and exposing a cross-border enforcement gap.
Palantir: The Expansion of Government Surveillance
Palantir’s data analytics platforms are deeply embedded in government surveillance, often with little transparency. The company has secured multi-billion-dollar contracts with the US Army, immigration authorities, and European agencies like France’s DGSI. In 2026, France renewed its contract with Palantir, despite ongoing criticism about the risks to individual freedoms and data sovereignty. Meanwhile, Germany’s military has announced it will no longer contract US companies, including Palantir, for its database needs, citing concerns over granting foreign industry staff access to national data. The Dutch and UK governments are also reevaluating their agreements with the US tech giant, signaling a growing European resistance to reliance on non-EU providers for critical infrastructure.
Palantir’s deep ties to US intelligence and its expanding footprint in Europe have sparked concerns about the outsourcing of sovereign functions to private entities. Critics warn that this dependency creates a cycle of reliance, where public institutions become locked into proprietary systems, often at the expense of transparency and accountability.
The Hidden Cost of Social Media: Addiction and Mental Health
While the focus on surveillance often centers on government and corporate overreach, another crisis is unfolding in plain sight: the mental health epidemic fueled by social media addiction. Platforms like Meta (Facebook/Instagram), YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat have been designed to maximize engagement, using features like infinite scroll and algorithmic content recommendations to keep users, especially young people, hooked. The EU has pushed back against this recently, but we still have to see how this will play out.
The Legal Reckoning
In 2026, the legal tide is turning. As of July, over 2,800 lawsuits are pending in US courts, alleging that social media companies deliberately design addictive products that harm children and adolescents. In March 2026, a landmark $6 million verdict was awarded to a young woman who developed severe depression and suicidal thoughts after becoming addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child. This case is just the beginning: bellwether trials are underway, with more expected in the coming months
Plaintiffs argue that these platforms prioritize profit over child safety, contributing to a global mental health crisis. Studies show that one in seven children aged 10–19 now suffers from mental health issues, with social media use directly linked to increased rates of suicide attempts, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia. In July 2026, TikTok reached a confidential settlement with a plaintiff who alleged addiction as a child, while Kentucky’s Breathitt County School District secured $27 million in settlements from major platforms over their role in student mental health problems.
The Addiction Model
Experts like Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist at Stanford University, define addiction as “the continued compulsive use of a substance or behavior despite harm to self or others.” Social media platforms offer “24/7, limitless, frictionless access”, making them particularly addictive. Court testimonies reveal that many young users struggle to disconnect, often at the expense of sleep, schoolwork, and in-person relationships.
Europe’s Path Forward: Open Source and Digital Sovereignty
For Europe, a region that prides itself on privacy, human rights, and democratic values, you may argue about the nature of this in practice, the rise of corporate-driven surveillance and addictive technologies presents an existential challenge. The solution? A strategic shift toward open-source technology and collaborative public-private partnerships.
The Case for Open Source
Open-source software offers a compelling alternative to proprietary systems. By making source code publicly available, open-source projects enable independent audits, fostering transparency and accountability. This aligns perfectly with Europe’s strong legal frameworks, such as the GDPR, which emphasize the protection of personal data and individual rights.
Open-source solutions allow governments to inspect, modify, and adapt software to meet their specific needs, ensuring compliance with local laws and ethical standards. This approach democratizes access to technology, empowering governments to take ownership of their digital infrastructure and reducing dependency on private vendors.
Leveraging GDPR and Beyond
Europe’s GDPR provides a robust foundation for promoting open-source solutions. The regulation’s emphasis on data protection and individual rights can be extended to AI governance, requiring that surveillance technologies be developed and deployed in a transparent and ethical manner. Open-source software naturally complements these principles, as it allows for greater scrutiny and compliance with legal standards.
The development of AI must be guided by ethical considerations and respect for human rights. Open-source projects can incorporate ethical guidelines into their design, ensuring that technologies like facial recognition are used responsibly and proportionately.
Trust Through Transparency
Trust is a critical component of any surveillance system. Open-source technology fosters trust by allowing the public to see how their data is being used and by whom. This transparency is essential for maintaining democratic values and ensuring that AI serves the public interest rather than corporate or governmental overreach.
Practical Steps for Europe
1. Investing in Open-Source Infrastructure
Europe must invest in the development and maintenance of open-source infrastructure. This includes:
- Funding research and development
- Supporting open-source communities
- Creating incentives for businesses to contribute to public projects
By prioritizing open source, Europe can build a sustainable ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders.
2. Mission-Oriented Innovation
Economist Mariana Mazzucato argues that public institutions must play an active, entrepreneurial role in shaping markets. Governments should define clear missions, such as:
- “Developing GDPR-compliant, open-source facial recognition alternatives”
- “Building decentralized social media platforms that protect user privacy”
These missions create a shared purpose and metrics for success that go beyond financial returns. Public funding should come with strings attached: private entities that benefit from government investment must reinvest profits into further innovation, share IP as open source, or adhere to ethical guidelines.
Examples:
- The European Commission’s Horizon Europe program uses mission-driven funding to tackle challenges like climate change and digital sovereignty, requiring private partners to contribute to open-source solutions as a condition for receiving public funds.
- The EU’s Digital Europe Programme funds open-source AI projects but requires that resulting tools be made available for public use, ensuring long-term accessibility and preventing monopolies.
3. Joint Governance and Transparency
Public and private partners should co-design projects, with governments retaining oversight to ensure alignment with public interests. For example:
- The FIWARE Foundation includes public agencies, businesses, and developers in its decision-making, ensuring that open-source tools serve societal needs.
- The Netherlands’ “Digital Government” strategy ties open-source adoption to measurable outcomes like improved public services and cost savings.
4. Challenge-Based Funding
Governments can use challenge-based funding to spur open-source development. For example:
- The EU’s Innovation Council runs open calls for solutions to societal challenges (e.g., secure digital identity), offering grants to consortia that include startups, universities, and civil society. Winners must publish their code openly, fostering a competitive yet collaborative ecosystem.
5. Ensuring Public Return on Investment
Public investments should generate a return on investment for society, not just shareholders. This could mean:
- Equity stakes: If governments fund a breakthrough open-source project, they might retain a golden share or license to ensure affordability and accessibility.
- Knowledge spillovers: Contracts should require private partners to share insights, data, or training programswith the public sector, as seen in Finland’s AI strategy, where Nokia and local universities collaborate on open AI tools for healthcare.
Resistance and Challenges
Corporate Pushback
Corporations with vested interests in proprietary software may resist the shift toward open source. To address this, governments must demonstrate the long-term benefits of open-source solutions, including:
- Cost savings
- Increased innovation
- Greater public trust
Policymakers can also implement regulations that favor open-source technologies, creating a level playing field for all market participants. Customers are looking for reasonable costs and quality. This is wat European consumers should be served at home.
Security Concerns
Critics often cite security as a potential weakness of open-source software. However, the transparency of open-source projects allows for continuous peer review, which can enhance security by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities more quickly than proprietary systems. Robust security protocols must be integrated into open-source development to mitigate risks.
Sustainability
Ensuring the sustainability of open-source projects requires ongoing investment and support. Governments can play a key role by:
- Providing funding
- Fostering collaboration
- Promoting the adoption of open-source solutions across public and private sectors
This will help create a self-sustaining ecosystem that drives innovation and economic growth.
Leading by Example: Open-Source Success Stories in Europe
Several European countries are already leading the way in open-source adoption:
- Estonia’s X-Road: A secure data exchange layer that enables the digital transformation of public services.
- Germany’s Sovereign Tech Fund: Supports the development of open-source infrastructure for public administration.
- Italy’s Immuni App: An open-source contact tracing app used during the pandemic.
- Finland’s Aurora AI: Uses open-source AI to personalize public services, with a focus on ethical, transparent development and public-private collaboration.
- EUROPA Consortium: Selected by the European Commission to develop an open-source AI model covering all 24 EU languages, ensuring accessibility and alignment with European values
- OpenEuroLLM: A shared infrastructure project building open-source AI models, with first releases expected in July 2026.
The EU’s Tech Sovereignty Package: A Good Step Forward
In June 2026, the European Commission unveiled the Tech Sovereignty Package, a landmark set of measures designed to reduce reliance on non-EU technology and strengthen Europe’s digital autonomy. The package includes:
- The Chips Act 2.0: To onshore semiconductor manufacturing and ensure a reliable supply of critical chips.
- The Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA): To support research and innovation in cloud and AI, and introduce a single EU-wide framework for assessing cloud and AI sovereignty.
- The EU Open Source Strategy: To scale up open-source alternatives in priority areas, invest in skills and startups, and support greater use of open source in public administrations.
- The Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy: To accelerate the adoption of digital and AI solutions in energy and other critical sectors.
The package represents a major shift in Europe’s approach to technology, placing open source at the center of its technological sovereignty. As Ursula von der Leyen stated in her 2025 State of the Union address, Europe’s technological sovereignty is key to strengthening competitiveness, resilience, and strategic autonomy in a fast-changing digital world.
The rise of corporate-driven AI surveillance and addictive social media platforms poses a significant threat to Europe’s values. But the path forward is clear: by embracing open-source technology and fostering collaborative partnerships, Europe can reclaim control over its digital future.
The transition to open source will not be without challenges, but the benefits: transparency, accountability, and innovation, are well worth the effort. With bold leadership and a commitment to public-private collaboration, Europe can build a digital ecosystem that serves the public good, not corporate interests.
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