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On 2 March 2021, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal delivered an important judgment on offensive expression and the limits of satirical and artistic expression in the media. The Court held that there should be no prosecution for incitement to hatred or group insult over the broadcast of an offensive satirical song about Covid-19 and Chinese individuals.  The defendant in the case was the presenter of a well-known programme, which regularly includes a segment responding to current events in a satirical manner. In February 2020, the defendant broadcast the so-called “Corona song” as...

On 16 February 2021, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (Dutch Data Protection Authority - AP) published important new Guidelines for political parties on the protection of privacy during election campaigns, including the use of political microtargeting. The Guidelines were published in the run-up to the Dutch parliamentary elections held on 15-17 March 2021. The European Commission also recently announced in the European Democracy Action Plan that it will examine “restricting” microtargeting in the political context, and propose legislation on political advertising in 2021 (see IRIS...

On 9 February 2021, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations published the Dutch Code of Conduct on transparency of online political advertisements ("the Code"). According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the intergovernmental organisation that co-drafted the Code, it is the first national code of conduct on online political advertising in the European Union. The Code is a collaborative effort of various internet platforms (Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and TikTok) and 11 out of 13 political parties (VVD, CDA, D66, GroenLinks,...

On 11 February 2021, the District Court of Midden-Nederland (Rechtbank Midden-Nederland) delivered a notable judgment on a government ministry’s refusal to release documents to the media relating to the Flight MH17 disaster, following a freedom of information request under the Public Access to Government Information Act (Wet openbaarheid van bestuur) (WOB) (see also IRIS 2021-2/9). The Court held that the release of certain documents could be refused, due to the potential harm caused to “relations of the Netherlands with other states and with international organisations”....

On 15 January 2021, the District Court of Rotterdam (Rechtbank Rotterdam) delivered an important judgment on the protection of political debate on social media platforms, especially concerning harsh criticism of political parties during election periods (see also IRIS 2020-5/16). Notably, the court ruled that a Twitter post by the mayor of a small town linking the well-known political party Forum for Democratie to fascism and Nazism was not unlawful.  The case arose right after the Dutch regional elections in 2019 (Provinciale verkiezingen), when the mayor posted a message in...