Article brough to you by LeafPlaza: the sovereign European social platform built entirely on European infrastructure, owned and operated in the EU.

What's happening

Two big problems for Europe:

  • Online crime is on the rise

  • Concern for the lack of strategic autonomy in tech

The answer is not to sacrifice privacy with the pretext of security. Instead:

  • Strong privacy is becoming a strategic advantage for Europe

  • Strong privacy can be a more effective way to fight crime

Privacy vs. security

Often confused, sometimes intentionally. However, they are not the same thing:

  • Complementary and reinforce each other.

  • Security: your data will not be available to third parties unintentionally.

    • The service provider might share your data without your consent.

  • Privacy: your data will not be available to third parties without your consent.

    • The service provider cannot share your data freely.

  • Key question: how to keep data safe from online crime and also protect the privacy

Privacy is a right but also a security measure:

  • Minimized data collection = steal and weaponize data is more difficult

  • User control = more difficult for scammers to operate at scale

  • Transparency = platform exploits are found more often and addressed

Online crime in Europe

New tech brings new opportunities to bad actors. Rising threads in the EU are:

  • Financial fraud and scam markets

  • identity theft and account takeover

  • Cyberattacks on infrastructure (DDoS, ransomware)

  • Harassment, hate speech, targeted disinformation

  • Abuse and exploitation

Crime often relies on 3 things:

  • Massive data collection by platforms = easier profiling and targeted attacks

  • Jurisdictional gaps = criminals without borders

  • Opaque systems = no visibility for victims and regulators

Silicon Valley platforms will not solve these problems as they created them in the first place. Copying them will not solve the problem either.

More privacy is less crime exposure

A vault with less valuables = less interest from criminals

  • Data breaches are less valuable

  • Social engineering becomes more difficult

  • Identity theft gets more complex

  • Manipulation profiles at large scale are harder to build

Transparency and accountability = less platform abuse

Systems focused on privacy require:

  • Clear data flows

  • Limited third party access

  • Strong transparency of who can access data and why

Transparency has a positive impact:

  • Bad actors had more trouble finding platform loopholes

  • Unchecked data brokers have less data for scam markets

  • Harmful content cannot hide behind opaque algorithms

User control = resilient defence layer

Scammers, harassers, and stalkers cannot operate at scale if users:

  • Control what they share

  • Limit who can contact them

  • Know how their data is used

What Europe should do

Reject the Silicon Valley handbook:

  • Mass data collection is the only way to fight crime

  • Surveillance of all users necessary and/or effective

  • Privacy is secondary to security

  • Mass surveillance tech is:

    • A source of new vulnerabilities: data honeypots, intentional backdoors

    • A reason to distrust of digital services, reducing adoption

    • A shotgun approach to catch criminals

Create an EU Tech handbook instead:

  • Investigations: lawful, targeted, transparent oversight

  • Technical standards: strong for security and data minimization

  • Platform transparency as requirement: risks, data flows, moderation, technical architecture, legality

  • Key principles:

    • Intentional data collection: limited for specific and legitimate purposes

    • Minimization: collect necessary data only

    • Accountability: organizations must prove compliance

    • Rights: user access to review, correct, and delete their data

    • Trust: the above principles drive user trust and adoption

In practice

  • Identity theft risk is minimized when there is minimal proof of identity, avoid unnecessary data storage and strong authentication practices.

  • Strong encryption standards protect victims and ordinary users, not just criminals. Targeted investigations should happen with legal safeguards and technical cooperation.

  • Privacy-focused design decisions limit data harvesting, reduce algorithmic amplification of harmful content and makes it harder for coordinated mass harassment or scams.

  • Privacy-first reporting allow users to report abuse and channel evidence while also limiting information to what is necessary for authorities to act under the legality.

EU tech autonomy as an enabling framework

Autonomy is not isolation but:

  • Building resilient systems aligned to European rights

  • Enforcing platforms comply with EU rules when operating in its territory

  • Creating a strong market where privacy and security are competitive advantages

  • Projecting power abroad by offering Privacy as a Service in a struggling world

EU autonomy encourages:

  • European providers with privacy and security by design

  • Open standards, auditable and interoperable

  • Reduced dependence on foreign platforms

The bottom line

Privacy is not a limitation to fighting online crime.

Privacy is a strategic advantage:

  • Reduces data available to attackers

  • Builds trust in digital services

  • Promote a more resilient and autonomous Europe

  • Projects EU power abroad

A EU privacy-first & autonomy-focused model could become a global reference and a strategic business advantage, while also protecting the citizens' rights.

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