The web is broken. Let’s fix it.
The internet was built to connect people, openly and safely.
Over time, control shifted to a handful of Big Tech platforms. Personal data became centralised, harvested, and monetised. Users lost ownership of their own information.
We believe it’s time to reverse that shift. There is a way to return control to users, without breaking digital business models. We’ve built it.
Our mission: a human-centric web
Our founders, Arno Otto and Martijn van Dam, have lived through the evolution of the web, and the consequences of its current model.
They share the vision of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, Utonomy is built on his Solid (Social Linked Data) protocol. This technology enables a web where personal data flows between people and platforms we’re helping to rebuild the web as it was meant to be — one where personal data flows between people and platforms under full user control, not through surveillance or extraction.
Our mission is simple: make privacy usable, and personal data ethical again.
Data storage governed by a foundation
Utonomy operates on top of an independent foundation: the Personal Datastore Foundation (SNDK). This foundation safeguards user data and governs how it may be accessed.
All personal data:
- remains user-owned
- is never sold or commercially exploited
- is shared only with explicit, auditable consent
The foundation was originally initiated to serve Dutch media organisations, supported by EU funding and R&D partnerships, and now forms the backbone of a broader European ecosystem.
From foundation to platform
Utonomy exists to scale this infrastructure beyond its origins.
We make this ethical, secure personal data and consent layer available to publishers, e-commerce, brands, and AI innovators across Europe. Any organisation can connect to the ecosystem and access verified, consent-based user data, without tracking, profiling, or compromising trust.
Unlike conventional data platforms, Utonomy never owns user data, it only enables access on the user’s terms.
Why we exist
By building Europe’s personal data and consent layer, for an AI era, Utonomy strengthens both individual autonomy and European digital sovereignty.
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To return ownership and control of personal data to people
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To turn privacy into a competitive advantage
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To reduce structural dependence on Big Tech infrastructure
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To ensure AI innovation is built on ethical data
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To prove that trust drives sustainable growth
AI needs ethical data
There has never been a more important moment to rethink how personal data is handled online. As AI increasingly shapes what we see, decide, and automate, repeating the mistakes of the past and base it on first-party data would be a failure of responsibility. This time, we have a clean slate
By building on first-person, consent-based data, Utonomy enables AI systems to learn from information that is transparent, trusted, and user-controlled — not extracted or exploited.
A new standard for trust online
Utonomy is more than a platform. It is a step toward a fairer, more resilient European digital economy. One where businesses unite and grow through trust. And people remain in control.
Utonomy gives personal autonomy to people, and digital autonomy to Europe. Join the movement.