Call to protect Dutch media against Trump and his social media magnates

In a full-page advertisement in several Dutch newspapers, Joop van den Ende called on Dutch politicians to “protect our media from the manipulation of American tech giants.” The well-known TV and theater producer spoke of “alarm phase one” now that President Donald Trump has the support of the top executives of companies like Meta, Amazon, and X in the White House who “manipulate and abuse” their platforms. The advertisement appeared in NRC, De Telegraaf, and AD, among others.

Van den Ende wrote about a “world that is changing rapidly” and warned of tech companies and countries like China and Russia that are trying to “undermine stability in Europe.” He wondered what “the Dutch government is doing to protect citizens from this attack on our values. Instead of freeing up extra money, it is once again cutting back on public broadcasting, the organization that has the task of making independent journalism, entertainment, and culture available to a wide audience.”

The producer criticized “complaints from The Hague” about public broadcasting, which he believes is functioning well. The system “must be protected so that journalists can continue to do their supervisory work,” according to Van den Ende.

The media magnate also spoke out in favor of a takeover of RTL Nederland by publisher DPG Media. According to Van den Ende, an objection that the newspaper publisher would become too dominant in the Dutch market is “hopelessly outdated” in a market that “has long been global.” According to him, the proposed takeover is precisely a “unique opportunity to finally make a fist against American domination with a Dutch-language company.”

“A choice for a healthy public broadcaster, a vital commercial channel, and a strong newspaper culture is a choice for a civilized country,” Van den Ende concluded his appeal.

The 82-year-old Van den Ende worked as a producer on numerous programs and series for Dutch television. Among others, the Playbackshow, Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden but also musicals such as Ciske de Rat and Tina were created thanks to him. He founded Endemol together with Jon de Mol. Quote 500 estimated Van den Ende’s fortune at 1.6 billion euros last autumn.

Google facilitating censorship

Van den Ende is not the only one concerned about the influence of tech giants. The British Sunday newspaper The Observer reported that Google has facilitated censorship by removing certain content at the request of regimes like Russia and China. This included YouTube videos of anti-government demonstrations or content criticizing politicians and accusing them of corruption.

The Observer wrote that Google has been in contact with governments in approximately 150 countries since 2011, who want certain information removed to protect national security, for example. In addition to democratic governments, these also include dictatorships or governments accused of human rights violations.

According to The Observer, over 60 percent of the removal requests were made by Russia in the four years up to June 2024. At the request of that country, Google removed images of Ukrainian demonstrators burning a Russian flag from YouTube, among other things. Content criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin was also temporarily blocked, the newspaper wrote.

At the request of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, Google removed over 200 videos. That is less than the 412 the Chinese government requested. According to the Chinese government, 346 of the videos flagged for deletion “contain allegations of corruption within the political system of the People’s Republic of China or stories about high-ranking officials.”

A Google spokesperson said that the company does push back against governments. “We oppose requests from governments to remove content when we believe that the content does not violate our law or our policies. We defend these cases tooth and nail and have even been fined for our refusal, for example, by the Russian government.”