The European Union has officially revealed its very own DNS resolver, which promises to strengthen privacy and security of EU citizens, government organizations and telecommunications providers across the block.
DNS4EU wants to be an alternative to larger US-based public DNS services (such as Google and Cloudflare) to increase EU digital autonomy by reducing European dependence on foreign infrastructure.
However, this is not just an EU-developed DNS. DNS4EU comes with built-in filters against malicious domains, just as those hosting malware, phishing or other cybersecurity threats. The home user version also includes the possibility of blocking ads and/or adult content.
While its use remains voluntary, some privacy experts warn against potential problems around content filtration and privacy.
What is DNS4EU?
As the EU Commission wrote on its official site: “The goal of DNS4EU is to secure the EU’s digital sovereignty by providing a private, secure and independent European DNS resolver.”
Map for Domain Name System, A DNS SOLVER functions as the Internet phonebook that translates user requests into strings of numbers -IP addresses -to connect them with the right sites.
Each time you connect to the Internet, it is your ISP (ISP) that chooses DNS to redirect your traffic. Nevertheless, an organization or end users may choose to change services to improve connection speeds, improve security and privacy, or better control content geo-location (similar to the best VPN).
The project was first revealed in October 2022 and was developed under the supervision of the EU CyberSecurity Agency Enisa and is currently being administered by a pan-European consortium led by the Czech cyber security company Whalebone, which includes experts from 10 EU countries.
DNS4EU, which the EU ensures “will not be forced into anyone” has been developed to meet the needs of different users.
Home users’ version is a public and free DNS resolver that comes with the possibility of adding filters to block ads, malware, adult content or all of these or none. There is also a dedicated version for government units and telecommunications providers operating in the European Union.
As mentioned earlier, DNS4EU is provided with a built -in filter to block dangerous traffic next to the ability to provide regional threat information. This means that a malicious threat discovered in a country could be blocked at the same time across several regions and countries where de facto stopped its spread.
“The DNS4EU threat information is improved by computer economic teams (Certs) and other institutions around the EU that provide information on EU-specific threats as well as by the data on cyberattacks overall through the Telco partners,” the EU explains.
What do the experts say?
The ability to filter unwanted content has given rise to concern among experts since its inception.
E.g. Pointed out a former MEP for the German Pirate Party, Patrick Breyer to talk to Torrentfreak in 2022, pointing out how “a government-driven DSA scheme comes with the risk of online censorship.”
When he talks to Techradar at the time of writing, Breyer welcomes the decision to leave traffic filtering features as optional. “However, it is left to see how the operator will respond to filtration requirements. Using a government -supported service may be a risk due to law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ wishes,” he said.
Senior Director of the European Government and Legislative Affairs of the Internet Society, David Frutschy Heredia, also warns against potential risks associated with content filtering and argues that “protection measures must be developed to prevent abuse.”
Heredia also fears that the use of geographical boundaries of global infrastructure can cause more harm than good in the long run.
He said to Techradar: “This normalizes the procedure and could inspire other actors around the world to introduce their own DNS solutions, which may be mandatory to use. Other countries, including Mauritius and Kazakhstan, have previously tried to impose the mandatory use of national DNs dissolves, with the capacity for indiscrimin -filing.”
(Image Credit: Shutterstock)
In addition to these potential questions, Breyer also noted that DNS4EU is missing a policy without log. This is a guarantee that no registration of users’ activities is ever saved.
According to the DNS4EU policy issued on June 1, 2025, the service collects a limited number of DNS request data and IP addresses. The latter is most anonymized directly on the DNS resolver.
Still, “The logging of all requests – although mostly anonymized – comes with risks,” Breyer told us.
On its part, the EU promises to never share any information that could identify an individual. It also rejects all concerns about censorship and it will have no access to configuration and users’ data.
“DNS4EU is not a way to censor, but actually against data protection and better internet security and sovereignty for Europeans,” reads the official site.
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