Web hosting covers shared and managed hosting, virtual and dedicated servers, managed WordPress and domain registration. Organisations use hosting providers to run websites and webshops, email, small applications and DNS, often with the provider also handling backups, certificates and updates.
A host has far-reaching access: it can read the files, databases and logs on your server, control the network and DNS, and in managed setups hold your credentials. Digital infrastructure is one of the sectors covered by NIS2, so larger providers face risk-management and incident-reporting duties. Sovereignty therefore depends on corporate structure as well as server location: a European brand may belong to a non-EU group, and a data centre in the EU may be operated by another company again.
When choosing, check who owns the hosting company, which data centres and sub-processors are used, whether backups are stored separately, and whether you can register and transfer domains in your own name. Prefer a control panel and stack built on open software, so that moving elsewhere means copying data rather than rebuilding.