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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...

On 9 December 2020, the District Court of Amsterdam (Rechtbank Amsterdam) delivered an important judgment on the liability of vloggers and social media influencers for audiovisual content published without consent on YouTube and Instagram which violates the right to private life. The judgment contains important principles on the filming of private individuals in public areas without consent, and the subsequent publication of such videos on large video-sharing platforms such as YouTube.     The case arose in May 2018, when the defendant, a well-known Dutch musician and vlogger,...

On 31 December 2020, the District Court of Gelderland delivered a notable judgment on the controversial issue of the criminal liability of journalists who commit (minor) offences as part of their newsgathering activities, and on which the European Court of Human Rights has delivered a series of judgments (see, for example, IRIS 2016-8/1 and IRIS 2016-9/1). In its judgment, the district court convicted a Dutch journalist of purchasing illegal fireworks as part of a news report, and ruled that the right to newsgathering by the media does not mean that journalists do not have to comply with the provisions...

On 30 December 2020, an important judgment on freedom of information (FOI) requests by the media, under the Public Access to Government Information Act (Wet openbaarheid van bestuur), was delivered by the District Court of Midden-Nederland (Rechtbank Midden-Nederland). In allowing a broadcaster’s appeal over a ministry’s refusal to release certain documents relating to a tragic train accident which was subject to widespread public debate, the court held that a large number of documents were “incorrectly refused”, “improperly redacted”, and that the decision was...

On 1 November 2020, new legislation amending the Media Act 2008 (Mediawet 2008) came into effect, transposing the European Union’s revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2018 (AVMS Directive) (see IRIS 2019-1/3) into Dutch law. The revised AVMS Directive was enacted in November 2018, and under Article 2, EU member states were required to incorporate the Directive into national law by 21 September 2020. The revised AVMS Directive contained a range of new rules, including more flexibility in television advertising, increased obligations to promote European works for on-demand services...