France to bar Teams and Zoom for officials, roll out domestic 'Visio' by 2027

France announced Monday, January 26, that it plans to replace American software such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom with a domestic platform called Visio, which will be rolled out by 2027 and made available only to government departments, not private companies or individual members of the public.

As reported by Euronews, David Amiel, minister for the civil service and state reform, said: "The aim is to end the use of non-European solutions and guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications by relying on a powerful and sovereign tool."

Visio has been in testing for around a year and already has about 40,000 users. The new platform includes its own AI transcription abilities and is part of the government's Suite Numérique plan, with an end goal of replacing other US services such as Gmail and Slack.

The French government says the switch could also cut costs: by not paying licences to American technology companies, it claims it could save €1 million per year per 100,000 users. PC Gamer added that it appears France does not want another nation's AI LLM, like Gemini, taking notes during meetings that could include sensitive information.

The government plans to roll Visio out by 2027; the timetable and detailed steps for phasing out other US services or how the transition will be enforced have not been specified in the report.

visio rollout 2027, replace microsoft teams, replace zoom, visio ai transcription, suite numérique plan, david amiel statement, government departments only, 40,000 visio users, €1 million savings, replace gmail and slack, gemini ai concerns, euronews report