EU collaborates with foreign governments on digital ID

06/23/2025 / By Laura Harris

The European Commission’s new International Digital Strategy aims to export its digital governance framework globally, promoting a “secure and democratic digital transformation.”
The strategy seeks formal partnerships with countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Brazil to advance digital ID interoperability and mutual recognition of electronic trust services.
It emphasizes collaboration through the UN’s Global Digital Compact to establish common rules on digital identity, content regulation and online speech.
The initiative links to the DSA, reinforcing platform obligations on content moderation, identity verification and child protection, which critics argue may enable broader surveillance.
While the EU presents the strategy as values-driven, privacy advocates warn it creates a tightly managed digital environment where state and corporate interests may override personal freedoms and anonymity.

The European Commission has unveiled an International Digital Strategy that would export its digital governance model abroad for a more “secure and democratic digital transformation.”

According to several reports, the Commission seeks to formalize partnerships with several countries, including Ukraine, Moldova, the Western Balkans and several Latin American nations, to advance the mutual recognition of digital IDs and other electronic trust services.

Key provisions of the plan include strengthening alignment with countries such as India, Brazil, Egypt and Uruguay in areas of digital identity interoperability and content regulation. The document highlights the United Nations (UN) Global Digital Compact as a shared framework to guide these collaborations, advocating for common standards on digital identity and online speech regulation.

The strategy also ties into the enforcement of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping regulatory framework that imposes strict compliance obligations on online platforms. The DSA includes child protection measures, but these are frequently used to justify broader content moderation, identity verification requirements and censorship under the guise of safeguarding public discourse. (Related: U.K. government to launch digital ID wallet this summer.)

In particular, the EU pledges to step up its campaign against Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), promising more aggressive attribution and countermeasures. Page 11 of the strategy notes that such activities will be monitored as part of a broader institutional framework.

“We are living through a profound digital revolution that is reshaping economies and societies worldwide,” said Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, in a speech delivered in Brussels earlier in June. “This is happening in a geopolitical landscape that is more challenging than before.”

EU’s International Digital Strategy sparks privacy concerns

The commission positioned the initiative as a push for secure, democratic digital transformation.

“As the digital revolution is reshaping economies and societies in a global geopolitical landscape which is more challenging than ever, the new EU International Digital Strategy shows that the EU is a stable and reliable partner, open to digital cooperation with allies and partners.

“While the EU will spare no effort to boost competitiveness in AI and other key technologies at home, it will also work with partners to support their own digital transition. The Strategy reaffirms the EU’s commitment to building a rules-based global digital order, in line with its fundamental values,” The European Commission wrote in a press release on June 5.

However, critics argued that it risks expanding government surveillance and curbing online freedoms under the guise of regulation and international cooperation.

“In framing digital transformation as both an economic imperative and a security concern, the EU’s strategy reinforces a convergence of interests between state power and corporate infrastructure. It is a vision of the digital future where identity verification, regulatory harmonization and global partnerships coalesce into a tightly managed ecosystem, one that may leave little space for meaningful privacy and anonymous participation online,” Ken Macon wrote in his article for Reclaim the Net.

In short, the EU’s digital strategy promotes a tightly controlled ecosystem where government and corporate interests converge, potentially at the expense of privacy and online anonymity.

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Watch this video to learn how the digital ID will control your life.

This video is from the Data Dumper channel on Brighteon.com.