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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Max von Thun

Europe is starting to break up with US big tech. But it’s still abiding by the Silicon Valley rulebook

A message at the People vs Big Tech demo outside the EU Commision headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 2025.
A message at the People vs Big Tech demo outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 2025. Photograph: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Beti Hohler is a Slovenian national who lives in the Netherlands. Like tens of millions of other Europeans, she uses Apple’s app store and has an Amazon account. When she travels for work or leisure, she may want to book a place on Airbnb or Booking, using a credit card issued by Visa or Mastercard, perhaps through PayPal.

But when the Trump administration sanctioned her last year for her work as a judge at the international criminal court (ICC), her ability to use any of these services vanished overnight. Her credit cards, her accounts with US companies – all gone. The sanctions against Hohler and some of her colleagues mean they live in “constant uncertainty”, she said.

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