Microsoft announced on Monday that it will ensure data from its European cloud customers remains within Europe, under the jurisdiction of European law, with operational oversight by local personnel and complete customer control.
This move comes amid growing concerns from European governments and companies over the risk of sensitive data being transferred outside the continent, particularly to the United States. The concerns have intensified calls for stricter data sovereignty, prompting American tech giants like Microsoft to adopt more transparent and compliant data governance policies.
As part of these efforts, Microsoft reaffirmed commitments made in April to strengthen safeguards as it scales its cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe. These include compliance with European legislation aimed at curbing the dominance of major technology platforms.
The company also disclosed that any remote access to systems handling European data by Microsoft engineers will be permitted and actively monitored in real-time by personnel based in Europe. This measure is designed to bolster customer trust and ensure alignment with European data protection standards.
Microsoft’s new sovereign private cloud, which supports these enhanced protections, is currently in preview phase and is expected to become generally available later this year.