At the European Data Summit 2026, hosted by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Ben Scott, a former advisor to Hillary Clinton, shared a digital sovereignty idea that could actually work.
"Our kids are in danger"
Digital sovereignty is a topic that average voters don’t understand. If we pursue ambitious regulation to increase our control—i.e. to become more sovereign through instruments like the Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, or the AI Act—voters won’t get it. Lobbies will ramp up, and people will fall for simplistic anti-campaigns.
Pressure would build not only internally, but also externally from the Trump administration.
Conclusion: We can only push through ambitious policies if we
👉 are backed by our own voters, and
👉 can withstand political power plays from the U.S.
What does Ben Scott suggest?
We need to connect the dots between something voters already care about and the broader goal of digital sovereignty. Hence, let’s take an issue that voters understand and care about: protecting children from the harms of social media.
EU License for "Safe Social Media"
There is widespread support among EU voters for banning social media for children under 16. But bans won’t work, because kids will always find a way around them. So we need to establish European “Safe Social” media.
His solution: Use existing regulation to introduce an EU license for safe social—interoperable, safe, transparent, fair, and aligned with European standards.
Will this idea withstand the pressure? Let’s check:
👉 European voters understand the issue
👉 European voters care about it and want it
👉 Even Trump voters want it … which could reduce pressure from the U.S. administration
Connect Solutions with Narratives
My Learning? We need to be much smarter in how we approach digital sovereignty. Right now, the debate is too abstract and too driven by outrage. The solutions we propose often fail to connect with the everyday lives of citizens.
If we want to succeed, we have to translate sovereignty into issues people actually understand and care about—and we need to play the game of narratives just as effectively as our opponents.
