Finland decides it is not moving election data to Amazon servers, at least not for now, because …

Finland has reportedly decided to pause plans to move its election platform to Amazon Web Services. The Nordic country made this decision, citing changes in the international political environment and the need to reassess how critical electoral systems are hosted, a report claims. The decision means the country will continue running its election infrastructure on domestic servers until after the April 2027 general election.The move follows a review by Finland’s Justice Ministry of an earlier 2025 decision to shift to Amazon’s cloud-based platform. The latest decision reflects broader concerns in Europe around digital autonomy and reliance on US technology providers.“In the past just over a year, the international political situation has changed, and the Justice Ministry decided to review the question of how to host the election platform,” the ministry told Bloomberg, adding that a final decision on a new platform will be taken later.The electoral system in Finland continues to rely on paper ballots for voting, but digital infrastructure is used to manage lists of polling stations, candidates and voters, as well as to count votes and publish results. Keeping the system within the country for now ensures operational continuity ahead of the next general election.The pause reflects Europe’s broader reassessment of where sensitive public infrastructure should be hosted, particularly as geopolitical conditions evolve and scrutiny of foreign cloud providers increases.Responding to the development, an AWS spokesperson told Bloomberg, “AWS provides secure, reliable cloud infrastructure to tens of thousands of public sector organisations across the world who trust AWS with their most sensitive workloads”, including Finnish public sector customers.Finland's decision comes at a time when the EU is pushing for greater “tech sovereignty” and exploring ways to reduce reliance on US technology companies. However, business leaders have cautioned that moving away from widely used tools such as cloud infrastructure, office software and AI services too quickly could disrupt operations.European companies across sectors, including banking and manufacturing, have reportedly said their dependence on US platforms cannot be easily replaced in the short term. The push for digital independence has gained momentum in part due to concerns that US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy could lead to a “tech decoupling” between the US and Europe.The European Commission is also expected to introduce a “tech sovereignty package” soon which will be aimed at expanding sovereign cloud services and strengthening Europe’s software ecosystem. At the same time, US officials have pushed back on concerns, with Sean Cairncross, US National Cyber Director, saying fears about Washington interfering with Europe’s internet infrastructure are not “a credible argument,” adding, “It’s China you should worry about, not us.”