France to Phase Out Teams and Zoom for Visio by 2027

The French government announced on Monday that it will phase out Microsoft Teams and Zoom across all public administration departments by 2027, replacing them with Visio, a domestically developed video conferencing platform designed to enhance data security and reduce reliance on foreign technology.

The decision, part of a national push for digital sovereignty, aims to protect sensitive government communications from potential foreign surveillance and service disruptions. Officials emphasized that Visio, overseen by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs, has been in testing for about a year and already serves around 40,000 users within government networks. By 2027, the platform will become the default and exclusive tool for civil servants, with external licenses for Teams and Zoom no longer renewed after that date. Some sectors, including tax and social security authorities, have already begun transitioning.

Visio operates on Outscale's sovereign cloud infrastructure, a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes certified under France's SecNumCloud framework for handling sensitive data. This setup ensures all user information remains within French jurisdiction, minimizing...