Dutch authorities are once again leaning on tech companies to act as speech enforcers in the run-up to national elections. The country’s competition regulator, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), has summoned a dozen major digital platforms, including X, Facebook, and TikTok, to a meeting on September 15.
The goal is to pressure these companies into clamping down on whatever officials define as “disinformation” or “illegal hate content” before voters cast their ballots on October 29.
EU regulators and civil society groups will be present at the session, reinforcing a growing trend where unelected bureaucrats, activist organizations, and corporate gatekeepers coordinate to shape public conversation online.
Central to the effort is the EU’s new online censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), a law that hands governments broad authority to demand content removals based on vague and shifting definitions like “harmful” or “illegal.”
The ACM, tasked with enforcing the DSA in the Netherlands, is using this legislation to demand stronger content censorship from platforms in the lead-up to the vote.
