Search results : 487

On 7 October 2024, the Dutch Government published an important bill to implement the 2024 EU Directive on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings (strategic lawsuits against public participation – SLAPPs), known as the Anti-SLAPP Directive (see IRIS 2024-3/5 and IRIS 2022-5/6). The purpose of the directive is to provide safeguards against SLAPPs, which are manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings brought against natural and legal persons on account of their engagement in public participation. Notably,...

On 7 November 2024, the Rechtbank Rotterdam (District Court of Rotterdam) delivered an important ruling on the protection of journalistic sources, and when courts can compel journalists to testify in criminal proceedings. Notably, the court ruled that an investigative journalist of the public broadcaster BNNVARA was entitled to refuse to testify in criminal proceedings against a Dutch local councillor accused of leaking confidential information. The case arose in May 2023, during a meeting of the Municipality of Dordrecht, where councillors were confidentially informed about legal correspondence...

On 1 October 2024, the Dutch Media Authority (‘Commissariaat voor de Media’) published the report ‘Young people, news and social media. A look at the future of the news’. It posits that since young people increasingly rely on social media rather than traditional media to stay updated on current events, news consumption, in general, is undergoing both massive and permanent transformation. The media routines that young people are developing now determine their media behaviour in the future. The report highlights the main implications of the increasing role of social media...

On 2 October 2024, the Netherlands Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) published a response to parliamentary questions by Kati Piri and Barbara Catharina Kathmann, MPs from the GreenLeft-Labour political party alliance (GroenLinks–PvdA). The questions were related to the recent research on online disinformation networks during the recent elections to the European Parliament conducted by the Dutch consultancy firm Trollrensics. As seen in this research, coordinated networks of social media accounts were active in France, Germany and Italy, and they aimed to interfere with public...

On 1 October 2024, the Commissariaat voor de Media (Dutch Media Authority – CvdM) published an important draft regulation on exemption from the investment obligation for on-demand audiovisual media services. This follows the enactment of an amendment to the Dutch Media Act requiring streaming platforms – with an annual Dutch turnover of more than EUR 10 million – to invest 5% of that turnover in Dutch audiovisual productions such as series, films and documentaries (see IRIS 2024-1/15, IRIS 2023-7/10 and IRIS 2022-8/16). The new draft regulation contains rules on how exemptions...