Trucker protest group made hotline to dox companies that cleaned up farmers' demonstrations
The truckers' protest group Convoy Netherlands set up a so-called "hotline" over the summer for people to harass and intimidate companies that cleaned up protesters' actions during the farmers' demonstrations. The hotline is still operational, despite victims reporting their experiences to the police, according to an investigation by Pointer.
Convoy Netherlands administrators posted photos of companies that were called in to undo farmer support actions –– such as cleaning up dumped waste in the middle of the road –– in a Telegram channel called "Reporting Point – Actions and Land Traitors." They also added contact information of the person or company doing the work.
Victims told Pointer they were called on private phone numbers or even visited at their homes. "The feeling that you are always being chased, that people still know what you are doing, I found that scary," said one person who received over 100 phone calls and was twice visited at his home after cleaning up waste.
During the farmers' protests this summer against the Cabinet's plan to reduce nitrogen emissions, protesters hung Dutch flags upside down, blocked highways with tractors and dumped asbestos and other waste on highways. Many of the suspects who were arrested for dangerous actions turned out not to be farmers themselves. According to Pointer, the Telegram group also appears to have originated from Convoy Netherlands –– not farmers.
The group mentioned or shared the personal information of 26 different entities, including companies and private individuals, according to Pointer. The police told Pointer a new bill to tackle doxing could make it easier to punish such actions in the future.
"If these are done in encrypted app groups by people using a pseudonym, it can be quite a search to find out who the person is who made a criminal statement," a Public Prosecution Service (OM) spokesperson told Pointer. "If the matter is serious enough, we will certainly go on that search."
