Henna Virkkunen, EU official for tech and democracy, is in the news as the EU pushes to regulate social media and digital safety.
European governments are accelerating efforts to replace US-based digital services with domestic or open-source alternatives. France plans to switch 2.5 million civil servants to a homegrown video platform by 2027, citing security and sovereignty concerns. Germany and Austria are also adopting open-source software for government use.
In late March and early April 2026, juries in New Mexico and California found Meta liable for harming children through addictive platform design and failure to protect against sexual exploitation. Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in New Mexico and $4.2 million in California, alongside Google’s $1.8 million penalty. These landmark rulings challenge legal protections like Section 230 and signal a shift toward greater accountability for social media companies.