French Health Data: an Alert. France and Europe Facing the American and Chinese Tech Giants

In 2019, the Health Data Hub (HDH) was created in France with the mission of bringing together all of French health data. Six months later, that data was entrusted to Microsoft, a multinational operating under US legislation that is not compatible with the European rules for safeguarding such data and maintaining EU independence. Focusing on that decision and its potential consequences, Jean-François Soupizet shows how it sets a problematic precedent because of the wider challenge represented by the control of European data in a context dominated by the USA and China. In so doing, he alerts us to a major challenge on which the EU and its member states lag significantly behind their rivals, and to the dangers that may ensue with regard to protecting the freedoms and independence of Europeans.