
Big Tech regulation, the sovereignty challenge, and sustainable digital ecosystem: In conversation with Aline Blankertz
From The Nextcloud Podcast by Nextcloud
May 29, 2026 · 59 min · Episode 34
About this episode
In this episode, Ingo Dachwitz interviews Aline Blankertz about Big Tech regulation and digital sovereignty.
In this episode of the Nextcloud Podcast, our host Ingo meets Aline Blankertz, a German data economist and digital rights campaigner. Aline is an economist and Tech Economy Lead at Rebalance Now, where she works on strategies to counter concentrated power in digital markets. She combines years of experience in competition economics with a strong commitment to making markets democratically accountable. In the episode, we tap into Aline's expertise in digital sovereignty, open source, and big tech regulation to answer some burning questions: • Why do some politicians and industries resist stronger enforcement against big tech companies? What can be done to overcome this resistance? • What role do open source and open standards play in reducing Europe's dependency on big tech, and how can public procurement and regulations support this effort? • Sovereignty washing: how do Big Tech corporations leverage local actors to create an illusion of sovereignty? And, of course, one more thing we are all curious about: what to expect from the Nextcloud Summit panel session "From open source to open ecosystems: Europe’s next digital play"? Listen now to find out! Want to be part of the…
People in this episode
Host: Ingo Dachwitz
Guest: Aline Blankertz
Topics covered
- Big Tech regulation
- digital sovereignty
- open source
- digital markets
- sustainable digital ecosystem
Keywords
- Big Tech
- regulation
- digital rights
- open standards
- competition economics
- sovereignty washing
- public procurement
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Rebalance Now
Places: Munich
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