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Software Freedom in Europe 2025

In 2025 we remained engaged in enforcing the DMA, intervening in the Apple vs EC legal case; we participated in the debates around the CRA and public procurement to ensure that Free Software is embedded in Europe’s digital future. Also, we continued providing legal support and improved REUSE, while involving teenagers with YH4F, and we reached new audiences with the new Ada & Zangemann movies.

As we look towards the year 2048, we know the kind of world we are aiming for. Our vision for 2048 is clear: a world where everyone has the right to remove and install any software on any device, where public funding for software is exclusively allocated to Free Software, and where regulatory frameworks actively encourage the development and use of Free Software. A world in which young people have the opportunity to tinker, experiment and code with Free Software as the default and Free Software contributors should be able to focus on contributing to society without constantly worrying about legal issues. In 2025, we took significant strides toward this vision.

In the realm of Device Neutrality, we advanced our case against Apple at the European Court of Justice, challenging restrictive practices that hinder user choice. Simultaneously, we celebrated Germany's confirmation of Router Freedom, a victory that empowers users to choose their own router hardware. In Italy, our coalition work influenced fiber network regulations, ensuring they protect end-user rights.

Legal support and education remained at the forefront of our initiatives. We updated the REUSE specification and tools, launched the Legal Corner column, continued helping with legal questions and achieved another edition of the Free Software Legal and Licensing Workshop (LLW), while continue being active in the NGI consortium.

Engaging the next generations, we hosted the fourth edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, programming contest and inspired teenagers across Europe to create innovative Free Software projects. With "Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream" we continued to captivate young minds, with the animated movie reaching audiences worldwide, while adding more translations and reaching to more and more children through readings and events.

We were actively participating in discussions around the AI Act, Cyber Resilience Act, and public procurement, emphasizing the importance of integrating Free Software principles into legislative frameworks shaping markets that benefit Free Software users and developers. We continued working on our "Public Money? Public Code!" framework, including an event for local governments.

Community engagement flourished through various events and outreach activities. We celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day" with events in multiple countries, highlighting the often-overlooked Free Software projects that power our daily lives. Our presence at conferences such as FOSDEM, SFSCON, DevConf.CZ, etc. facilitated meaningful discussions and strengthened our network.

Behind the scenes, our technical team enhanced infrastructure resilience, optimized website performance, and improved accessibility, ensuring that our digital infrastructure effectively serve our growing community. This year, we bid farewell to our office space at Schönhauser Allee after many years of having it as our home base. The generous donation of the Software Freedom Flat (SFF) by Reinhard Wiesemann and our move there, marks a pivotal moment, as it provides dedicated spaces for the FSFE's team and volunteers for living there and collaborating with each other.

Reflecting on these accomplishments, we are reminded that the journey toward our 2048 vision is a collective effort. It is through the dedication of our supporters, volunteers, and partners that we continue to make meaningful progress. Together, we are shaping a future where software freedom is a reality for all.

Device Neutrality

The FSFE’s work on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been twofold. Since the beginning of 2024, we have intervened in a key case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) involving Apple and the European Commission. At the same time, we have actively contributed to the implementation of the DMA, working to ensure it is applied in a developer-friendly way that empowers Free Software developers and strengthens Free Software in general.

The FSFE remains the only civil society organisation engaged in private enforcement of the DMA, intervening for Free Software in a key court case involving Apple and the European Commission. Apple is trying to avoid obligations derived from the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The FSFE seeks to hold Apple accountable under the DMA in a developer-friendly way.

In summer 2024, the CJEU granted the FSFE the right to intervene in the proceedings. By September 2024, we had submitted our legal arguments to the Court, and we now await its decision.

Regulatory Intervention to protect Free Software and Interoperability

Alongside litigation, the FSFE has engaged proactively with the DMA’s regulatory processes. By the end of 2024, we had begun a comprehensive study on how Apple’s restrictive interoperability policies harm Free Software. The findings were first presented in November 2024 during a conference on DMA implementation in Brussels, and later in the DMA and Beyond Conference organised by the Knight-Georgetown Institute and Yale University in Washington, D.C., in February 2025.

In January 2025, the FSFE joined civil society organisations, developers, and researchers in submitting a position to the European Commission’s public consultation on Apple’s compliance with the DMA’s interoperability requirements. We stressed the urgent need for Apple to provide effective and free-of-charge interoperability. Following nearly a year of regulatory dialogue, the Commission concluded its specification procedure on Apple’s compliance with Article 6(7), covering both software and hardware interoperability. Throughout this process, the FSFE provided technical analyses, academic research, and active contributions to consultations, while also building a coalition of Free Software projects directly affected by Apple’s policies.

Although the Commission stopped short of requiring interoperability by design, its final decision reflects many of our arguments. Developers now benefit from greater clarity, including a timeline for Apple’s responses to interoperability requests and an appeal mechanism to challenge Apple’s decisions. Apple must compete on innovation rather than imposing unilateral security standards.

"The FSFE has ensured that the voices of Free Software developers, particularly smaller projects, are heard. We welcome the European Commission’s steps toward demanding effective and transparent measures from Apple, but a fundamental shift towards "interoperability by design" would be the most impactful improvement. DMA is not only about regulating competition among gatekeepers but also levelling the playing field to SMEs and smaller software developers. Therefore, it is crucial to keep Apple’s approach to interoperability under strict scrutiny from the Commission and civil society." Lucas Lasota, FSFE Legal Programme Manager

To continue monitoring how gatekeepers implement their interoperability obligations and to ensure that Free Software is not harmed, the FSFE launched the Interoperability Survey. This initiative collects structured feedback from Free Software developers, referred to as “access seekers”, about their experiences when requesting interoperability under Article 6(7) DMA. The survey aims to foster innovation and support alternative solutions developed by the Free Software community. Developers who have submitted, or plan to submit, an interoperability request are encouraged to participate.

In addition to legal and regulatory engagement, the FSFE has worked to raise awareness about the importance of the DMA and its implementation. Over the past year, we have contributed to conferences and events across Europe, produced an episode of the Software Freedom Podcast, and organised two workshops. One of these workshops was dedicated to Free Software organisations, while the other was hosted by the German Open Source Business Alliance, where we highlighted the DMA’s potential for Free Software companies.

Successes for Router Freedom

2025 has been a successful year for Router Freedom. Our work in this field collected victories in Germany and extended interventions in regulatory processes in Italy. More and more users can enjoy the freedom to use their own equipment to connect to the internet, run Free Software on their devices and get rid of internet providers’ lock-ins!

In Germany, after 10 years the regulator Bundesnetzagentur has finally confirmed Router Freedom in the country. After a failed attempt by internet providers to exclude Router Freedom from fiber networks, the Bundesnetzagentur rejected all the arguments brought forward by the telecom operators, explaining in detail why freedom of terminal equipment is crucial for end-users. The FSFE has been pushing for this since 2013, submitted a detailed position paper debunking the arguments of the fiber operators. We have demonstrated that Router Freedom represents freedom of choice, security, consumer welfare, fair competition and sustainability.

In Italy, the situation remains challenging, but we work hard to achive the best outcome for end users. Although the country was among the first to introduce Router Freedom for DSL connections in 2018, the national regulator AGCOM later introduced exceptions that weakened this right for fiber networks. In 2024, we worked with a coalition of organizations and volunteers to demand a formal regulatory process.

This effort brought a considerable victory in February 2025, when AGCOM’s consumer division launched a regulatory process to decide whether consumers can freely choose their own routers and modems for fiber connections. During the public consultation, the FSFE mobilized a broad coalition of stakeholders (including civil society, industry representatives, hacker spaces, and Linux User Groups) and submitted a comprehensive study defending users’ rights. While a final decision is still pending, we continue to monitor developments closely.

On the European level, Router Freedom continues to be a priority for the telecom sector. Several topics are still unclear and will require further analysis and commitment to public awareness and education towards decision makers. For instance, Router Freedom is not currently guaranteed in satellite networks, and the diverse cross EU legislation for cybersecurity in radio equipment will led to further restrictions imposed on end-users.

Refund4Freedom - reclaim the costs of unwanted Windows licenses

In 2025, consumers still face the widespread practice of being forced to purchase computers bundled with Microsoft Windows, without the option to refuse the license or obtain a refund. This situation obliges users to pay for software they may not wish to use, restricting their freedom of choice. The FSFE said Basta!

Together with the Italian Linux Society (ILS), we launched the Refund4Freedom initiative. The project supports consumers in reclaiming the cost of unwanted Windows licenses, documents manufacturers’ refund practices, and raises awareness about unlawful software bundling. It also advocates for fairer policies from hardware vendors, ensuring that users can freely choose their preferred operating system.

With Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 in 2025, the initiative also underscores the opportunity for users to adopt a GNU/Linux distribution. In this context, the FSFE supports the End of 10 campaign. For example, since spring 2025, the FSFE’s Berlin group has been organizing regular “End of 10 Install Parties,” in cooperation with other local actors. These events provide users with guidance on migrating to GNU/Linux distributions and offer support in addressing their questions. Other FSFE groups are also active on this issue, and a dedicated FSFE Matrix room provides further information and coordination.

Free Your Android

Since 2012, we have been running the Free Your Android initiative to help Android users reclaim control over their devices and data, encouraging the use of Free Software apps and operating systems, and highlighting how people can switch to or support alternatives that respect user freedom. As an long running activity, we have been monitoring the situation there, and talked about it at our booths or at workshops, such as the one that took place last spring in a library in Berlin or at Devconf.cz.

In the last months Free Software on Android phones is facing serious challenges. With current versions of Android, Google delays publication of the source code and completely withholds crucial components like hardware specific code for their own devices. This significantly complicates ROM development for anyone who does not directly partner with Google, so especially Free Software ROM developers. At the same time, Google is trying to restrict developer access in general by requiring registration, further worsening the situation for software freedom on phones. At the same time, CalyxOS has announced that they cannot provide software updates until further notice and it's still unclear how this situation will resolve.

The FSFE is responding proactively by closely engaging with developers and other stakeholders to safeguard freedom and privacy on phones. We are also in the process of updating our Free Your Android pages to reflect the changed landscape. This will make sure we provide clear, up to date advice to help users choose software that ensures long-term freedom.

We also hope that EU regulations such as the DMA will help in this respect.

REUSE - make licensing easy for humans and machines alike

We end up 2024 with the release of the REUSE Specification 3.3 and REUSE tool 5.0.0, making it even easier to license your code as Free Software. REUSE provides all the tools and documentation that developers need to apply standards-compliant and comprehensive licensing information to their projects, without needing to be a legal expert.

REUSE continues to evolve thanks to steady input from a vibrant global community, both in the form of issues, code contributions, and general feedback. This year presented an unexpected challenge when the primary maintainer had to temporarily step down due to illness. Although these kinds of transitions are never easy, we did our best to make it as smooth as possible and the software remains in capable hands.

A major success this year was the move of Arch to adopt REUSE. In RFC 52, the developers propose using REUSE for license annotation in their packaging. This step by a major distribution is a great example of how REUSE helps by providing machine-readable licensing information and simplifying processes.

The REUSE tool plays a crucial role in ensuring that NGI (Next Generation Internet) projects comply with Free Software licensing best practices. REUSE provides a simple, standardized method to embed machine-readable licensing information directly into project files, making it easy for both humans and automated systems to verify compliance. This clarity fosters trust among collaborators, funders, and end users, and it significantly lowers the barriers to adoption and reuse of NGI results.

In the last months, we have actively continue supporting NGI projects in adopting REUSE by offering direct advice, training materials, and guidance on implementation. Through workshops, documentation, and consultations, we help project teams understand the importance of licensing clarity and how to apply the REUSE standard to their own work.

Free Software Markets and PMPC

In Software Freedom in Europe 2024, we warned about the European Commission’s plans to cut funding for NGI projects. As we highlighted in a statement in November 2024, the European Commission’s recurring uncertainty around budget allocations underscores how fragile essential Free Software support remains. Without predictable, long-term public investment, projects that underpin Europe’s digital autonomy risk being left dependent on fragmented or short-lived sources of funding. The future of our digital independence requires stable and sustainable financial backing, not on short-term funding that can vanish with the next budget draft. For years, the FSFE has highlighted how Free Software is key for the backbone of Europe’s digital infrastructure, and through our Public Money? Public Code! initiative we have shown how making publicly funded software available as Free Software strengthens that backbone by ensuring transparency, reusability, and independence. The past year has shown that ensuring its resilience requires long-term, structural funding commitments.

Over the past year, we have been advocating for this. At SFSCON 2024 in Bolzano and at the OpenSouth Code in Málaga in 2025, we had underlined that Free Software requires permanent funding structures. In collaboration with other stakeholders, FSFE co-organized the FOSS Funding devroom at FOSDEM 2025, where developers, funders, and policymakers discussed the future of financial support for Free Software projects.

Beyond conferences, we has also worked to broaden the conversation through our communication channels. In episode 26 of the Software Freedom Podcast, we explored the systemic funding challenges Free Software faces, offering insights into why public institutions and governments must guarantee stable support rather than relying solely on voluntary or market-driven contributions. This perspective was further reinforced by the FSFE’s official contribution to the EU’s long-term budget consultation, where the organization called for a dedicated, structural funding line for Free Software at the European level.

Sustainable funding must also be accompanied by better public procurement practices. Currently, many EU institutions and national administrations still default to proprietary vendors, locking themselves into costly and inflexible contracts. By prioritising Free Software, Europe could ensure that public money is invested in solutions that remain reusable, transparent, and accessible to all.

“Gaining control over technology is one of the pressing topics for the European Union. Reducing dependencies and removing vendor lock-ins is key to achieving this, and only the four freedoms of Free Software to use, study, share, and improve the code allow it. A Free Software first policy must facilitate easy procurement of Free Software solutions while fostering collaboration between Member States. Implementation also needs to be well-executed. Furthermore, reliable long-term funding for Free Software core infrastructure and security is needed to ensure digital and technological sovereignty. Unfortunately the report lacks concrete measures and requirements that need to be improved before the plenary vote.” states Alexander Sander, FSFE Senior Policy Consultant.

In June 2025 the Industry Committee voted on procurement to focus on interoperable solutions, and pointing to the benefits of Free Software in fostering competitiveness and innovation thanks to its global character, although its report lacked of concrete measures. Further insights into this issue were discussed in Software Freedom Podcast episode 34 and in the episode 35, where we provided an in-depth analysis of the EU's Tech Sovereignty vote, highlighting the critical role of Free Software in achieving technological independence. On the other hand, we contributed with a statement to the EC consultation on this topic.

This is precisely the vision behind Public Money? Public Code!: software paid for by the public should serve the public. Combining structural funding with Free Software–friendly procurement would provide not only the financial security but also the political framework needed for Europe to fully reclaim control over its digital infrastructure.

During these months, we have also continued our engagement with key European regulations, particularly the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and the AI Act. As part of the Dialogue on Cybersecurity project, the FSFE and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) are working are working together with representatives from civil society, academia, industry and public authorities in a project on the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and its implication for Free Software. through expert talks, a questionnaire to call for CRA stewards for their active input, and talks at FrOSCon 2025 and another at Datenspuren 2025.

On the AI Act, we were advocating for strong safeguards and transparent governance of AI systems in Europe. The episode 36 of the Software Freedom Podcast discusses our call on the European Commission to implement the AI Act in ways that respect Free Software.

While these examples show up our ongoing commitment to ensuring that emerging EU regulations both protect digital rights and empower the Free Software ecosystem, reinforcing Europe’s technological independence and resilience, we are also working to help people and organisations understand how Free Software fosters freedom, transparency, and self-determination, and to encourage its use and development. To this end, we organised the symposium “Public Money? Public Code! in practice” in Essen in April 2025, with a focus on public administrations – especially municipalities. Experts from politics, public administration, business, academia, and civil society discussed why Free Software is indispensable for digital sovereignty, how effective procurement can work, what resources are needed, and how administrations can proactively move forward.

Building on this success, we piloted and launched a new Public Money? Public Code! activity for volunteers across Europe. With a blueprint now in place, the next edition is planned for Denmark in 2026. We invite volunteers in other countries to bring the symposium to their local context – and we are ready to support with project planning, topic selection, speakers, implementation, and communication.

"Public Money? Public Code!" in Germany

At the end of 2024, Germany’s coalition collapsed without fulfilling promises to advance Free Software in public administration. A Bundestag hearing shortly before the elections gave us the opportunity to contribute strong arguments for Free Software to the parliamentary record and to warn against openwashing. Our #SFP27 podcast looks more closely at the hearing and explains our position.

The FSFE monitored the election period and the formation of the new CDU/CSU–SPD government: We called on parties to commit to “Public Money? Public Code!”, secure long-term funding for Free Software, deepen administrative Free Software knowledge, and monitor progress.Consequently, the coalition agreement announced ambitious goals for Free Software, but failed to offer details or measures.

To this day, it remains unclear what these goals are and what role Free Software will play for Germany’s technological sovereignty. Despite promises to make Free Software the guiding principle of digital infrastructure, the current federal budget and the procurement reform missed key opportunities to advance Free Software. Whether the planned stack will consistently rely on Free Software and ensure European interoperability also remains uncertain. After the government’s first 100 days, we pointed out these shortcomings in a detailed analysis and made clear: Germany and Europe need Free Software – the time to act is now!

MP Explore to reach representatives

In order to streamline part of our policy work and to support other small organisations in such work, this year we developed MP Explore, a tool designed to retrieve official and publicly available up-to-date contact information about parliamentarians. This information help us to to reach representatives from several parliaments, when doing our policy activities.

MP Explore relies on well-maintained data sources that collect up-to-date, official, and accurate information of MPs across Europe. Such data sources are based on official and publicly accessible sources from parliaments. Currently, we have developed data sources for the European Parliament, the German Parliament (Bundestag), and the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament (Germany).

Thanks to the contribution of our volunteers, we are currently coordinating the creation of MP Explore Sources for parliaments in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Norway.

Young Generation

Ada & Zangemann the movie

Since its first publication at the end of 2021, the illustrated book Ada & Zangemann – A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream has found its way into homes, schools, and libraries around the world.

But in October 2024 a new milestone was reached: Ada & Zangemann came to life on the big screen! On Ada Lovelace Day, the movie premiered worldwide. This achievement was only possible thanks to the support of our community. The first English screening featured special guests Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet,” and Franziska Heine, Executive Director of Wikimedia Germany.

The celebration continued in Germany: on 27 November, the film premiered in Essen, in the country’s largest cinema, where over 800 guests, most of them children, enjoyed the fairy tale on the big screen.

In 2025, the movie reached even more audiences, with new releases in:

• French, supported by the French Ministry of Education
• Spanish, thanks to Volkswagen Spain
• Danish, once again made possible by our dedicated local group in Denmark and with a premier screening in Aarhus.

You can explore all versions of the movie here: ada.fsfe.org/movie. The movie is in our YouTube and Peertube channels, where some versions are already more than 2100 single viewers. As it is distributed under a Creative Commons license, anyone is able to download and share the movie, embed it on websites, use it in schools, display it at events including cinemas (for which we provide special movie files), and integrate it with other educational material, making a difference to the quality of tech education that is so vital for young people in our digital society.

Meanwhile, the book itself continues its global journey, having distributed over 15.000. Originally published in German and English, it is now published in 11 languages, most recently Danish, through the incredible efforts of our local group there, who not only translated the story but also created a publishing company to bring it to life.

Altogether, more than 25,000 children worldwide have discovered Ada’s story through books, readings, screenings, discussions, and workshops.

And there’s even more: thanks to our Italian volunteers, Ada & Zangemann can now be enjoyed as as an audio book in Italian. Other Italian volunteers created an Ada & Zangemnann themed mini-game on the Luanti gaming platform .Try it out!

Readings have also taken place in Italy, Spain, rural Germany, and as far away as Sri Lanka! And thanks mainly to the amazing work of our volunteers, this year the improvements to the Ada & Zangemann git repository continued. The docbook source format was merged and expanded to support more output formats, including the previous source format for backwards compatibility. Online translations on Weblate are now possible because of this, resulting in 28 languages in some state of progress. The automation is being improved with the community, with plans for better documentation and more formats like the online digibook by C&F Editions and the Kamishibai format by Squeeek.

Interesting fact: on 10 November 2024 Ada was featured as Media of the Day on Wikimedia Commons.

They are young + they need the code

The FSFE's pilot project “They are young + they need the code” is also using by the book "Ada & Zangemann". This educational format, designed by the FSFE, helps the children to understand the importance of controlling their own technology, through reading the book and manual activities. Currently the project is being tested in Italy, and we are waiting to hear back from our volunteers, who are bringing the format to the schools and libraries.

This educational format can take place in schools or libraries, where volunteers read the book or play the audiobook and then guide the children in an activity such as a treasure hunt, robotics lab, or drawing session. Through this mix of storytelling and hands-on learning, children discover the importance of controlling their own technology"

Youth Hacking 4 Freedom

One more year, one more round of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom. And another one on the way! In October 2024, we went to Brussels for the 3rd YH4F Awards Ceremony. Once again, we were impressed by the quality and creativity of the projects submitted. This round was also the first time we had some team projects among the winners.

2024 winners

• Ultimate Hacker Award: Gaspard with ‘Versia’, a federated social network based on the Versia protocol.
• Elite Hacker Award: Sofía with ‘Identity’, an app that helps people in palliative care or suffering from dementia to save their most meaningful memories.
• Awesome Award: ‘Eventfully’, a team project by Konrad, Luis, Benedikt, Dorothea, Leonie and Jona: a software to find and explore events in your area, connect with others, and learn more about culture, technology and other topics from one website.
• Creative Hacker Award: Manuel with ‘YLLM4F (Youth Large Language Models 4 Freedom)’, a platform, that combining three advanced language tools, ensures that chatbots interact in a youth-friendly way.
• Epic Game Award: Corentin, Edmond and Tipragot with ‘Beats into shapes’, a rhythm game where you forge items with the sound of music.
• Community Support Award: Tobias with ‘PraiseLink’, a WebApp for sharing sheets and lyrics of music. It can be used for singing choirs or live performance groups.

Over the past few months, we spoke with some of the participants as they shared their experiences: Sofía, one of the winners; and with Aya, Vinícius and Simon, three contestants. As news, this year we also started publishing interviews with the jury members, so current and future participants get a better glimpse about what it is expected from them. In 2025, we talked with Alexios and with Brie.

Soon, in October, the winners of the 2025 edition will be announced. They will also be welcomed at the 2025 YH4F Awards Ceremony: a weekend in Brussels featuring various activities, networking opportunities, and the presence of several jury members.

Their journey began last January with the start of the programming period, which included optional monthly online meetings that ran until June. Afterwards, a broad group of experts evaluated the projects and faced the difficult task of selecting six winners.

Moreover, this initiative is made possible thanks to the generous financial support of our donor, Reinhard Wiesemann, as well as several sponsors. In 2024, OpenSSF joined the competition, and this year we are also proud to have Proxmox and SUSE OSCC on board.

Legal Education

In the past twelve months, the FSFE has increased our efforts to spread awareness and education about the legal concepts and issues that affect Free Software. We feel that this is a particularly important area to work on, as having a basic understanding of the legal principles behind Free Software can help developers better navigate essential aspects of Free Software, such as copyright and licensing.

To that end, the FSFE has developed a training curriculum for basic legal topics. This year, we have provided our training to many vocational students in computer science in Italy, through the Italian based Edulife project.

Additionally, this year saw the launch of our Legal Corner, a regular column that seeks to explain various legal concepts that Free Software developers may encounter, as well as explore current events in the legal realm that impact Free Software.Up to know we have deal with the following topics:

• MIA or Dead Contributors - Does It Matter For Your Software Project?
• Restrictions on our Freedom to Study Software: A Legal Case Study from Poland
• The threshold of originality for copyrightable source code
• Bringing SumUp to compliance: a case study of license enforcement

As explained in one of the Legal Corner articles, one of our volunteers, and team member, discovered that SumUp’s “Solo” payment terminal incorporated multiple Free Software components without providing the required disclosures, license texts, copyright attribution, or access to source code. She contacted SumUp and demanded compliance under the applicable Free Software licenses; after almost a year of back-and-forth, SumUp finally delivered a USB stick containing the required disclosures and the CCS. Additionally, SumUp also updated their Solo device software to now show the relevant FOSS disclosures, and also to indicate where users will be able to access the CCS.

The FSFE also concluded our direct work in the EU funded ZOOOM Initiative early this year. This was a project that sought to raise awareness on the importance of Free Software, Open Hardware, and Open Data, as key pillars of a sustainable, trustworthy, and sovereign industrial ecosystem in Europe. While the project has come to an end, we are nevertheless still involved in spreading awareness of the ZOOOM Toolkit, a resource produced during the project for SMEs to learn how to integrate the open principles of software, hardware, and data into their business models.

NGI projects

Since 2018, the FSFE has been involved in the Next Generation Internet Zero (NGI0) initiative as a consortium member. Funded by the European Commission, the NGI0 initiative hopes to support the development of the internet into a platform, which is also referred to as the Next Generation Internet, that is accessible and diverse, and that respects fundamental rights, including values such as privacy. At the FSFE, we believe that Free Software is key to accomplish this goal, so that all users are able to use the internet as an effective tool to achieve their full potential.

NGI0 projects provide financial grants and technical support to researchers and developers who are working on Free Software solutions that contribute to the establishment of the vision of the Next Generation Internet.

We have for the past year been working on our current NGI0 projects: NGI0 Entrust, NGI0 Core, NGI0 Commons Fund, and NGI0 Review.

As we’ve always done with our previous NGI0 projects, we have been assisting the software projects receiving grants from these various NGI0 projects with their legal and licensing needs, as well as helping them in their transitions when adopting our REUSE specification.

We continued our work with NGI0 this year by helping many developers working on Free Software solutions solve a diverse range of problems, as well as helping them have a better understanding of Free Software licenses, compliance issues, and how they can avoid some of these pitfalls by adopting our REUSE specification.

As part of our work in NGI0, we have also attended several conferences, giving talks about it and Free Software.

LLW and Legal Network

The FSFE’s Free Software Legal & Licensing Workshop (LLW), is a a two and a half day conference for members of the Legal Network community to meet face-to-face and share legal expertise. In 2025, the conference was held in the Unperfekthaus in Essen, bringing together over 100 legal and compliance professionals, technologists, and policy experts from across the globe. The 2025 edition delved into the evolving legal landscapes impacting Free Software, with a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity.

Volunteer Engagement

Since September 2024, we have published around 60 news items in English, our official outreach language, with some of these also translated into other European languages thanks to our awesome team of translators. Kudos to all of them!

To make their work even easier, this year we simplified the FSFE translation process by integrating LibreTranslate into our translator tool, Webpreview. We also updated our translators page. to make the process clearer and more accessible.

We made some small but meaningful updates to our website as well. For example the donors page to improve transparency and recognition for our supporters. The donors page now shows donation amounts more clearly and includes a visual marker indicating how long each donor has been supporting the FSFE. You can check out the updated page here. Our supporters quotes at the main page are also changed regularly and we are finishing moving all our pages in the wiki into docs.fsfe.org.

But that’s not all. We released 12 new episodes of our Software Freedom Podcast, including a brand-new series explaining European policy topics related to Free Software. We continued featuring inspiring guests, such as Marc Prud’hommeaux discussing his App Fair Project, and explored initiatives like South Tyrol’s steps toward software freedom. Thanks to our volunteers, who not only help with editing but also contribute technically, our podcasts are gradually adopting Podcast 2.0v features! And we continued with our monthly newsletter and our mailings!

Our presence in the Fediverse is growing, so in followers in Mastodon and in our Peertube channel. In the later you can also find out all our videos, from our well known "What is Free Software" video to our presence in the latest conferences.

In 2024, the FSFE were also part of the organization of the 1st Berlin Fediverse Day. You can find out all the talks from that event on our Peertube Channel. Currently, we are involved in the organization of the 2nd Berlin Fediverse Day, which will take place at the beginning of October.

In 2025, the FSFE announce it suport to the the Dutch call to adopt social media platforms that respect public values.

One last news related to the Fediverse: since the beginning of the year we are using the Fediverse as discussion room for our publications, pointing the discussion link of the articles to the Fediverse posting about that publication. This result on the turning off the Discourse forums at community.fsfe.org by the end of March 2025.

IloveFS

Each year on the 14 February we celebrate the “I Love Free Software Day”. On this day, we thank all the people behind Free Software projects or programs and let them know that their work does not go unnoticed.

One more year we asked our community to join us organizing different local events to celebrate this occasion. A lot of you followed our call for action! In 2025 the FSFE and its local groups focused on hidden Free Software projects for the "I Love Free Software Day". Together we wanted to raise awareness of all the hidden Free Software Projects that power our daily infrastructure. Free Software is everywhere and often it is the small projects that become a vital part of our lives - therefore we dedicated this "I Love Free Software Day" to all those projects that are not that prominent, so to shed some light on them. ❤️

We had 19 amazing events in 11 different European countries. Each event was unique and every group came up with a different idea on how to mark this special occasion.

It was and is inspiring to see how many of you participated in the “I Love Free Software Day”. Without you this would not have been possible. Find out more about the “I Love Free Software Day 2025” and the different events and thanks you! in our ilovefs 2025 report.

Our community and conferences

As always, raising public awareness remains a key part of our mission, with active participation in SFSCON, 38c3, FOSDEM... This important presence would not have been possible without the dedication of our outstanding volunteers, who not only supported us at these major gatherings but also took the initiative to organize booths at various local events. Their commitment and hard work play a vital role in bringing our message to a wider audience.

Our local groups have also been active with different initiatives beyond their regular meetings. For example, the Berlin and Zurich groups contributed to the End of 10 initiative, organizing local events to help users transition to Linux; the Polish group joined the FSF’s 40th anniversary celebrations in Warsaw; and the Netherlands group has been working on translating Ada & Zangemann into Dutch; a story that, as mentioned earlier, is now also available in Danish thanks to our community there.

Alongside these local efforts, we also came together twice as a wider community to spend time with our community and supporters. In November, we enjoyed a beautiful hike near Bolzano, followed by lively conversations over lunch. During the summer, we gathered in Berlin for our Summer Meeting at the Software Freedom Flat to share inspiring talks, delicious food, and even home-made ice cream! All while working on Free Software topics for the upcoming monhts.

In recent years, the FSFE has partnered with LUGBZ (Linux User Group Bolzano-Bozen) to honor individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the promotion and dissemination of Free Software across Europe. The 2024 European SFS Award, presented at last year’s SFSCON, was awarded posthumously to Vim developer Bram Moolenaar.

Merchandising and Info Material

At the end of 2024, we reintroduced hoodies to our merchandise catalogue! Available in blue or black, these zipped hoodies were primarily offered through pre-order and could be picked up at various conferences. Since they are too bulky for regular online shipping, we reserved them for in-person distribution. Featuring a redesigned illustration of the Free Software Four Freedoms on the back, we also ordered a few extra, so you can still find them at our booth at several upcoming events.

In 2025, we expanded our merchandise with two new temporary tattoo sheets:

• one inspired by the illustrated book Ada & Zangemann – A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream,
• and another featuring logos from our different activities.

Our information materials have also grown: from the Device Neutrality campaign, we now have a poster and a round sticker, as well as a new poster presenting our Vision for 2048.

This summer, we’ve made some updates to our “Spread the Word” page to make it easier for you to order exactly the materials you need. You can now choose from four different package sizes: "My laptop", "I want postcards", "Stickers for me and my friend", and Standard.There is an extra option, Custom, for you to detailed your needs so you only get what you need/want.

But the news are not over! We’re starting some collaborations to create some new designs that we hope you will enjoy while we continue to improve our website to make your orders, merchandising or promo material, easier! One of them is https://www.hellotux.com/fsfe: you can order now at this online shop some cool clothes with our logo! >

Core Infrastructure

During this last year our System Hackers & Administrators have been hard at work ensuring that the technical infrastructure that supports the FSFE’s work remains healthy and aligned with our needs and those of our community. Aside from the never ending maintenance work in our servers and services, this year has seen the release and development of widespread improvements that have optimized our work. It has also seen our infrastructure struggling under the pressure that malicious LLM bots induce.

Our custom website build process, which takes care of rendering the more than 5500 pages of our website, has seen major improvements thanks to one of our System Hackers who took on the challenge of revamping it with a focus on speed and maintainability. Thanks to the improvements brought by this change, we have been considering the introduction of many features, such as native Markdown support, that will further streamline our work.

The improvement of the website build process goes hand in hand with the changes made to Webpreview, our one-stop tool for publishers, translators, and proofreaders, which has been used as the testing ground for upcoming features like Markdown support.

Besides, the FSFE infrastructure is targeted by LLM harvesting bots, like many other communities alike. The services suffered the most were the mailing list archives and the git server. The mailing lists operation was disrupted due to a problem that happened in the database of the list archive server and access to many files and functionality on the git service had to be closed for supporters only. While the mailing list archives remain closed at the moment to prevent them from the LLM bots, access to the git service could be lifted again after deploying Anubis as additional layer and tighten up the existing firewall rules.

In the last few months, we have been organizing monthly calls with our System Hackers to ensure that, even though we are spread all over Europe, we can coordinate and easily discuss improvements and next steps to our infrastructure.

Join the movement

Become a supporter: Your support and contribution for the promotion of Free Software are important for securing our continuous work, ensuring our independence, strengthening our democratic society, promoting and implementing concrete steps towards software freedom, and making it easier to use and develop Free Software.

Advocating for freedom costs money and we depend on people like you to support us. Thanks to all our supporters and our donors for their generous financial contributions. We guarantee that all support is used to foster software freedom in Europe a little more each day, step by step, bit by bit for the next decades.

With your help we can keep on defending software freedom. Thank you for your trust, your support, and your ideas to continue bringing Free Software to our society!

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