- The EU has unveiled its own DNS resolver, promising to be more in line with privacy and cyber-resilient
- The DNS4EU is an alternative to the main American services and includes integrated filters to block dangerous traffic
- Although it remains voluntary for all EU citizens, some confidentiality experts warn against potential problems concerning the filtering and confidentiality of the content
The European Union has officially unveiled its own DNS resolver, which promises to strengthen the privacy and security of EU citizens, government organizations and telecommunications suppliers through the block.
The DNS4EU wants to be an alternative to the main public DNS services based in the United States (such as Google and Cloudflare) to stimulate EU digital autonomy by reducing European dependence on foreign infrastructure.
It is not only a DNS developed by the EU, however. The DNS4EU is delivered with integrated filters against malicious fields, such as those that house malware, phishing or other threats of cybersecurity. The home user version also includes the possibility of blocking adult ads and / or content.
Although its use remains voluntary, some confidentiality experts warn against potential problems concerning content filtering and privacy.
What is the DNS4EU?
As the EU Commission wrote on its official website: “DNS4EU’s objective is to ensure the digital sovereignty of the EU by providing a private, safe and independent DNS resolver.”
Abbreviation of Domain Name System, a DNS resolver acts as the Internet telephone directory, translating user requests into number channels – IP addresses – to connect them with the right websites.
Whenever you connect to the Internet, your Internet service provider (ISP) chooses the DNS to redirect your traffic. However, an organization or end users can choose to change your service to improve connection speeds, improve safety and confidentiality, or better control the geo-localization of the content (in a similar way to what the best VPN does).
Unveiled for the first time in October 2022, the project was developed under the supervision of the EU Enisa cybersecurity agency and is currently managed by a pan -European consortium led by the Czech Cybersecurity Company Whalebone, which includes experts from 10 EU countries.
This week, the DNS4EU public service was launched for group stakeholders’ group tests. Thank you to all the people involved. We are currently collecting comments to support the final adjustments. The official public launch to come next week. Stay listening. #Dns4eu #cybersecurity #dns pic.twitter.com/g0uaqiutdcJune 6, 2025
The DNS4EU, which the EU guarantees “will not be forced to anyone”, has been developed to meet the needs of users of different users.
The version of home users is a public and free DNS resolver which is delivered with the possibility of adding filters to block ads, malware, adult content or all, or not. There is also a version dedicated to government entities and telecommunications suppliers that operate within the European Union.
As mentioned above, the DNS4EU comes with an integrated filter to block dangerous traffic alongside the capacity to provide information on regional threats. This means that a malicious threat discovered in a country could be blocked simultaneously in several regions and countries, de facto stopping its spread.
“DNS4EU threatening intelligence is reinforced by emergency intervention teams (certificate) and other institutions all around the EU, providing information on specific threats to the EU, as well as by data on cyberattacks collected through telecommunications partners”, explains the EU.
What do the experts say?
The ability to filter unwanted content has aroused concerns among experts since its creation.
For example, addressing Torrentfreak in 2022, a former deputy for the German pirate party, Patrick Breyer, stressed how “a DSA program managed by the government includes the risk of online censorship”.
Speaking to Techradar at the time of writing the editorial’s moment, Breyer is delighted with the decision to leave trafficking capacities as optional. “However, it remains to be seen how the operator will react to filtering requests. The use of a service sponsored by the government can be a risk due to the wishes of the police and the intelligence agencies,” he said.
The main director of the European government and regulatory affairs of the Internet company, David Frautschy Heredia, also warns against the potential risks linked to the filtering of the content, arguing that “guarantees should be developed to prevent abuse”.
Heredia also fears that the application of geographic borders to global infrastructure can cause more harm than long -term good.
He told Techradar: “This normalizes the approach and could inspire other players from around the world to introduce their own DNS resolvers, who may be compulsory to use. Other countries, including Maurice and Kazakhstan, have already tried to impose the compulsory use of DNS national resolve, with the capacity to draft incrimination.”
In addition to these potential problems, Breyer has also noted that the DNS4EU has no non-compliance policy. This is a guarantee that no recording of user activities is never stored.
According to the DNS4EU policy published on June 1, 2025, the service collects a limited number of DNS and IP addresses. The latter are the most anonymized directly on the DNS resolver.
However, “the logging of all requests – even if it is mainly anonymous – is delivered with risks”, explained Breyer to us.
For its part, the EU promises to never share any information that could identify an individual. He also rejects any concern about censorship, promising that the EU will have no access to the configuration and user data.
“DNS4EU is not a means towards censorship, but in fact towards data protection and better security on the Internet and sovereignty for Europeans”, reads the official website.
