DMA: Protecting Device Neutrality in Android Devices

The FSFE has submitted its position to the European Commission’s Android interoperability consultation under the Digital Markets Act, calling for, among others, the right to fully uninstall AI-based features from Android devices, and access to interoperability functions for developers free from Google’s verification requirements.

The AI boom has reached not only us as users, but also our devices. For example, Android devices are silently installing large AI models without users noticing it. According to recent reports, these models cannot be uninstalled by end-users, and occupy several gigabytes of storage. The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires companies like Google to allow end-users to uninstall pre-loaded software on their devices. This issue is one of several that the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has formally raised in its contribution to the European Commission's public consultation on Android interoperability under the DMA.

As part of case DMA.100220 under Article 6(7) of the DMA, in which the Commission is developing binding interoperability measures for Google’s Android platform, the FSFE is calling for several improvements within the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Among them we are asking:

• Uninstallation of AI-based features: users must be able to fully remove pre-loaded AI components, with companies prohibited from silently reinstalling or reactivating them.
• Decoupling interoperability rights from Android Developer Verification: access to Android’s interoperability features must not be contingent on registration, authorisation, or contractual relationships with Google.

Uninstallation of AI-based features

There is a broader pattern: gatekeepers increasingly determine which applications come pre-installed on devices, challenging the end-user capacity to fully remove those applications or their associated components. Uninstalling software should not be a temporary action that Google, and other gatekeepers, can quietly reverse. The FSFE called for clear safeguards ensuring that users can fully remove components (including AI-based features), can recover the storage space they occupied, and that companies cannot reinstall, reactivate, or update those components without the user’s prior and explicit consent.

This is not a new concern. In July 2025, the FSFE, together with other civil society organisations, filed a formal complaint to the European Commission on the lack of proper uninstallation of apps in Android devices. The current consultation represents an opportunity to reinforce and extend these protections to cover AI-based features specifically.

Decoupling interoperability from Android Developer Verification

In September 2026, Google will roll out the Android Developer Certification, forcing every Android app developer to register with Google before their software can be installed on any device. The program, criticized by Free Software developers and civil society, entails the signing of contracts and payment of account fees to Google and handing over the identity of developers. Such measures are particular problematic for Free Software developers who have deliberately chosen to operate outside Google's ecosystem, or for developers exposed to non-democratic activities in Europe and in other countries, where registering their identity with a private corporation could expose them to surveillance and retaliation risks.

The Commission's draft measures, if unchanged, would still allow Google to require developers to go through a verification process tied to the Google Play Store before accessing those features. Asking developers to register with Google or sign an agreement to access interoperability features under the DMA effectively forces them to give up the independence that makes them a real alternative. This is contrary to the text and spirit of the law.

Even where the draft measures say that access must be free of charge and technically workable, they do not prohibit Google from requiring a Google account or a developer programme agreement as a precondition. For alternative Android developers, signing such an agreement means accepting terms that can restrict what they build, how they distribute it, and what services they must pre-install. That is a real cost, even if no money changes hands.

The FSFE therefore calls on the Commission to close these gaps explicitly: no developer should need a Google account, a Play Store presence, or any agreement with Google to access Android's interoperability features.

Read the full statement here (EN).

Device Neutrality and the DMA

The Digital Markets Act is a European Union law designed to limit the power of large digital gatekeepers such as Google and Apple. One of its central goals is to make digital ecosystems more open and interoperable, so that users and developers are not entirely dependent on the conditions imposed by a handful of large tech companies. Article 6(7) of the DMA obliges gatekeepers to provide free-of-charge interoperability with the software and hardware features of their designated operating systems. For this obligation to translate into real-world openness, the measures the Commission adopts must be precise, inclusive, and enforceable.

The FSFE has been actively engaged in DMA drafting and enforcement from the outset, advocating for interoperability obligations, uninstallation rights, alternative app stores, and fair access for Free Software developers. The FSFE has also intervened directly in court proceedings concerning Apple’s DMA compliance. This contribution to the Android consultation is another step in that long-term commitment.

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SFP#52: Policy and EU: Insights from the T-DOSE conference and the Dutch community

In our 52nd episode, we turn our attention to the European stages, this time going to the Netherlands. There, on 6 and 7 June, Dutch volunteers and Free Software enthusiasts came together for the 2026 T-DOSE conference, the heart and soul of the local community.

The FSFE’s Dutch team not only supports the FSFE, but is also involved in organising a local conference on Free Software. On this Software Freedom Podcast episode, Bonnie speaks to Nico Rikken, a long-standing FSFE volunteer and coordinator of the Dutch team. Through his voluntary work, Nico is a strong advocate for Free Software and is also part of the core team organising the T-DOSE conference: a Dutch nationwide annual conference dedicated to Free Software. Like many local conferences, T-DOSE has that special atmosphere, that sense of belonging and community. Join us to get to know the Dutch Free Software hackers!

In this episode, Nico and Bonnie discuss the Dutch Free Software community, with a particular focus on the T-DOSE conference. Together, they discuss the challenges facing local conferences and how the team behind T-DOSE plans to tackle them.

The FSFE's policy work is an important part of our aim to safeguard Software Freedom. You can support our work by donating today!

Show notes

• Support our work for Free Software
• Stay up-to-date and join our Newsletter
• T-Dose, official webpage
• T-Dose on Mastodon
• Nico Rikken, Mastodon
• Nico Rikken at FSFE
• hpr4641 :: Technical Dutch Open Source Event (T-DOSE)
• T-DOSE @ peertube
• We promote and talk about 'open', but are we actually -doing- it enough?
• Linux voor een beginner (Dutch only)
• FSFE @ T-DOSE, 2014
• T-Dose Live Stream
• SFP#50: Policy and EU: How NGI wants to save the Internet and what's next?
• FOSDEM conference
• Angry Nerds Podcast at T-DOSE 2026 deel 1

We are happy to receive your feedback on the Software Freedom Podcast and especially on the transcript of the episode. Please, email us to: podcast@fsfe.org. If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.

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Digital Sovereignty needs Free Software

In the last weeks, we got the green light to intervene against Apple before the European Court of Justice for the second time (!) while the European Commission has included the “Public Money? Public Code!” principle in its Technological Sovereignty Package. And stay tuned! A new European consortium will be launching soon, and we are part of it!

This month is starting with good news: the European Commission included the Free Software Foundation Europe’s “Public Money? Public Code!” principle in the newly released Technological Sovereignty Package, which also contains the new "Open Source Strategy". If implemented, it could mark a paradigm shift towards making publicly financed software available as Free Software. But it is too early to lean back: Its success will depend on binding rules, long-term funding, and meaningful civil society involvement.

However, not all public administrations think the same: England’s National Health Service (NHS England) has made most of its public source code repositories private by default, based on concerns that public code repositories could be scanned by AI systems to identify vulnerabilities. At the FSFE we were clear about it: NHS England should not hide public code behind closed doors. De-publishing does not make code unseen, nor does it remove existing copies, and it is not an effective security measure. Instead, it removes a fundamental pillar for security: the ability of independent experts, researchers, and other public bodies to inspect, reuse, and improve the code, and to report on security issues.

We called on the Free Software community to push that decision back by signing an open letter to NHS England, calling on them to keep their code open. The community’s response was strong, with more than 500 additional signatures in the hours after our call. Shortly afterwards, the UK Government Digital Service issued new guidance making clear that public bodies should keep code public by default.

Digital sovereignty through Free Software was also the topic of our latest Software Freedom Podcast episode, in which Bonnie and Johannes talk with Petteri from X-Road about the current challenges for Free Software projects in public administrations. Listen to it!

You may already know that despite the need for digital sovereignty in Europe, funding for European projects such as the Next Generation Internet Zero (NGI0) programme was cut. We're glad to share some good news on this front: we recently announced a new European consortium for a resilient, home-grown technology European ecosystem: the Restack project. Operating under Horizon Europe, the FSFE is a partner of this cascade funding programme, designed to retain the strength of the NGI Zero approach. Our role will be to provide legal and licensing support for potentially over 200 Free Software projects and assist their growth into part of a wider European digital commons.

Defending interoperability in Europe

“With industry interests well represented by several interveners on the other side, the FSFE is there to ensure that civil society is equally heard — and that the court can decide with the full picture before it"

In a landmark development for Software Freedom in Europe, the Free Software Foundation Europe has been granted permission to intervene at the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case T-359/25 - Apple against the European Commission. This intervention aims to defend interoperability and Software Freedom in Europe and it is the second time the FSFE is intervening in a litigation at the CJEU in regards to the DMA and Apple. The previous case (T-1080/23) concerns Apple’s broader challenge to its DMA obligations and its designation as gatekeeper, while this case (T-359/25) focuses specifically on interoperability under Article 6(7) DMA and the legality of the European Commission’s decision specifying how Apple must implement those obligations in practice.

Following our work on the Digital Markets Act, we participated in the SCiDA Conference in Düsseldorf, a leading academic event focused on competition in digital markets. There, the FSFE was invited to present its work on interoperability in Android during a plenary session, highlighting the relevance of our work within ongoing policy and academic discussions.

The conference brought together senior representatives from competition authorities across Europe as well as members of the European Commission's DMA enforcement team. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen connections with key stakeholders and to further raise awareness of the FSFE's policy work on digital markets and users' freedom to control their devices.

Up for learning more about the DMA? We were invited for episode 5 of the "DMA Vox Populi" podcast about the DMA review. There, Dario discusses what the European Commission got right, where it fell short, and what must come next for software freedom and interoperability in Europe.

Youth Hacking 4 Freedom 2026

The 2026 edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom is reaching its peak. The programming period wraps up at the end of this month, and while participants can finally catch their breath, the jury will be getting to work evaluating their projects. In October, we will meet the 6 winners of this edition at the Award Ceremony weekend in Brussels.

For the fifth edition of YH4F we had over 80 participants from 21 countries! 😮 We can't wait to see what they have developed. And we are already planning for the next edition, so stay tuned!

From the stages: Ada, Digital Sovereignty, PIWO and more!

May has been a busy month! Our Polish local group took part in P.I.W.O. (the Poznań Free Software Event), where volunteers ran a booth promoting Free Software. And while the name might make us think of free "piwo" (that's beer in Polish), what participants got was free pizza.

In Berlin our group organized a Linux presentation day in which people could try Linux laptops and get all their questions answered about them.

Moreover, besides attending SCIDA, we participated in a panel about the DMA in Brussels. During the CPDP conference, we sat in the panel entitled "It takes two to tango: Public and private enforcement of the Digital Markets Act" at the CPDP conference, where we presented our work on the DMA enforcement, including our litigation against Apple at the European Union Court of Justice.

Digital sovereignty was also the topic in a lecture series in Regensburg, where, after watching the animated movie “Ada & Zangemann”, we took part in a discussion about this topic.

The FSFE is turning 25! And we want to celebrate it with you!Join us on 18 and 19 July in Cracow for a weekend full of Free Software with talks, networking, and of course, a cake! Wanna know more? Write us: contact@fsfe.org

Ada was also present at several events: we had a movie screening and a kids' workshop at the Tübingen Digital Freedom Days, where we also ran a booth. In Utrecht, at the NLUUG conference, our booth had a focus on Ada & Zangemann too. But the highlight this month was in Italy: our Italian community celebrated three years with Ada at an event in Pesaro with more than 50 primary school kids… and ice cream for everyone!

One last recommendation if you are a German speaker (also good for practising your German skills 😉): listen to the latest episode of the Engineering Kiosk podcast, featuring Ada & Zangemann! There Matthias talks with Andy and Wolfgang about a lot if interesting background details of this illustrated story.

Your support helps us move our work forward

We may be behind the wheel, but you’re the ones keeping us moving forward. You can also support us, contribute to our work, and join our community. Are you using social media? If so, do not forget to follow us there! You can also follow the FSFE news in your RSS Reader.

Your editor, Ana

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EU Tech Sovereignty: A milestone for Public Code? Now implementation is key

The European Commission published its Technological Sovereignty Package on 3 June 2026, containing the new "Open Source Strategy". If implemented, it could mark a paradigm shift by adopting the Free Software Foundation Europe’s “Public Money? Public Code!” principle. Its success will depend on binding rules, long-term funding, and meaningful civil society involvement.

The European Union currently spends an estimated €264 billion per year, predominantly on proprietary IT products and services, cementing systemic dependencies and vendor lock-in. To counter this, the European Commission’s new strategy positions Free Software, also known as Open Source, as a strategic enabler for European competitiveness, explicitly recognising the freedoms to use, study, share, and improve software. The upcoming Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) introduces a Free Software first principle for “public cloud and AI software procurement”, requiring public administrations to make software purchased with public funds available for reuse. However, the document is non-binding and now needs strong backing by the Commission to achieve technological sovereignty through Free Software.

“The European Commission’s explicit recognition of ‘Public Money? Public Code!’ in this strategy, nine years after the FSFE launched the initiative, could become a major step forward for software freedom in Europe. However, the Commission still falls short on concrete goals, milestones, and secure funding for Free Software. The procurement reform will be a test: ‘Public Money? Public Code!’ must become a mandatory requirement for public tendering. Redirecting even half of Europe’s €264 billion in public IT spending from proprietary lock-in to Free Software would boost European tech sovereignty”,

“We welcome the Commission’s commitment to invest across the entire software stack, including Free Software operating systems for mobile devices, which is essential for device neutrality and user choice. It also creates opportunities for individuals, public administrations, and companies to develop and maintain technology under their own control. What matters now is implementation. These commitments need secured, long-term funding, meaningful involvement of independent experts and civil society, and effective enforcement of the Digital Markets Act to ensure Free Software can thrive in a fair market”,

Key elements of the Tech Sovereignty Package

• To counter the structural disadvantages faced by European SMEs, and Free Software companies in particular, under frameworks historically tailored to proprietary vendors, CADA introduces a Free Software first requirement, supported by new tendering guidelines to eliminate vendor lock-in, but mainly for public cloud and AI contracts.
• The package prioritises critical technology areas for Free Software development, including semiconductors such as RISC-V, cloud stacks, AI frameworks, and Free Software mobile operating systems.
• The EU aims to mobilise €2 billion over seven years "for all measures under the open source strategy", including a maintenance instrument to provide sustained financial support for critical dependencies – still a small fraction of the €264 billion spent yearly on proprietary software and services.
• In partnership with Member States and European Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs), the EU aims to reach at least 30 million active users for Free Software collaboration tools and secure messaging by 2030.
• The Commission addresses the lack of independent digital education and tools in the education sector by announcing support for a Free Software suite for schools and universities, as well as vendor-agnostic training.

The FSFE will actively engage with the European Parliament, Member States, and civil society partners to transform these strategic goals into concrete, legally binding projects.

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Restack: a new European consortium for a digital Europe

Recent geopolitical events have highlighted Europe's need for a resilient, homegrown technology ecosystem free from critical dependencies. The new Horizon Europe project Restack aims to accomplish it. The FSFE is a partner of the Restack consortium, providing legal and licensing support for potentially over 200 Free Software projects and assisting their growth into part of a wider European digital commons.

Europe urgently needs to regain the capabilities to run its own digital infrastructure. The “cloud-first” strategy that has dominated in the past decade has shown itself to be an unsustainable long-term strategy in light of geopolitical stressors. Despite this need for digital sovereignty, funding for European projects such as the Next Generation Internet Zero (NGI0) programme was cut. As a result, the FSFE’s ability to provide legal and licensing support for Free Software projects that have the potential to improve the internet as a platform would have come to a halt in 2027. In light of this setback, the FSFE and our fellow NGI0 consortium partners have been searching for an alternative to provide similar support for Free Software projects.

These efforts proved successful in February 2026, when the proposal for Restack, spearheaded by our consortium partner the NLnet Foundation, was approved. Operating under Horizon Europe, this new 10M€ initiative will enable the consortium partners to continue strengthening the European ecosystem of contributors to the digital commons with financial and practical support.

The Open Internet Stack framework is a cascade funding programme designed to retain the strength of the NGI Zero approach: nurturing bottom-up innovation by providing small- and medium-sized grants to creators of free and open technologies, including Free Software, Open Hardware, and Open Data related projects. It will also provide a pipeline of tailored support to strengthen the quality and maturity of these projects. The main novelty within Restack is that a significant amount of targeted effort will be added to wrap the resulting innovation catalogue into a coherent stack.

Restack aims to support projects that can help accomplish the following goals:

• Strengthening the “Free and Open” technology ecosystem, based on sovereignty and privacy;
• Improving the resilience of the internet;
• Addressing and reducing the environmental impact of digital technology; and
• Improving transparency in the technological supply chain.

The hope is that, by supporting the growth of such European projects, Restack will contribute to a healthy Free Software and technological environment that supports collaboration and transparency. Such an environment can also strengthen privacy and security for different groups, ranging from consumers to vulnerable communities such as minorities and journalists. Additionally, we hope that this project can help develop economic incentives that encourage collaborative strategies and community engagement.

As Restack is currently still in its early stages, more information about how Free Software projects can apply for funding and technical support will be shared in the coming weeks.

Next Generation Internet and the FSFE

Since 2018, the FSFE has been a consortium member of the Next Generation Internet (NGI), supported by the European Commission's DG CNECT. The NGI has the mission to re-imagine and re-engineer the internet in order to shape a value-centric, human, and inclusive society for all.

The FSFE's team provides guidance to successful grantee projects on legal and licensing issues, and helps them become REUSE compliant. Through individual assessments and direct assistance, we aim to promote the display of unambiguous, human-readable, and machine-readable licence and copyright information. Other consortium partners provide support on issues that can improve each grantee software project, such as security, accessibility, and translations, among others. A similar workflow is expected to be enacted for software projects that are supported under Restack as well.

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