fake news

Facebook will not be able to guarantee that the company is transparent about the placement of political advertisements before the provincial states elections next month, Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations wrote in a letter to parliament, NOS reports.

The Dutch government is launching an online campaign against fake news in February, in the run up to the Provincial State and European Parliament elections next year. The campaign must make Dutch voters more aware of the possible presence of disinformation and help people recognize it, Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs said in a letter to parliament, NOS reports.

The campaign will be spread on social media and last for around four months, through the Provincial States election on March 20th and up to the European Parliament elections on May 23rd. 

A Facebook post stating that the 34 suspects in the trial around a highway blockade during the national Sinterklaas arrival last year were sentenced to prison, was massively shared on Facebook. The post on the page 'Ik Ben Zwarte Piet Fan' was shared over 25 thousand times in the 23 hours it was online. It has since been removed, NOS reports.

According to the post, all 34 suspects were sentenced to 18 months in prison, six of which conditionally suspended. This is misinformation. 

A video of a golden jackal wandering around a wooded area in Ruurlo is fake, according to TV presenter Nicolette van Dam, who posted the video. The fake video was meant to kick off a campaign warning people about tick bites, De Gelderlander reports.

People in the Netherlands are not very concerned about fake news and don't come across it very often. The Dutch also have a relatively high trust in their news media, according to the digital news report by Reuters and the University of Oxford. 

According to the researchers, the Netherlands is "characterized by relatively high levels of trust in news and little concern about fake news".

More and more countries are active in the increasingly complex fields of digital espionage and -sabotage, the Dutch general intelligence and security service AIVD warns in its annual report for 2017. The Netherlands is an interesting target for digital espionage because of its position as an international hub and as a member of the EU, NATO and this year also the UN Security Council, NOS reports.

This week Facebook is launching an advertisement campaign in the Netherlands aimed at teaching Dutch Facebook users how to recognize fake news. Ads with tips on how to do so will appear on the social media platform itself. Facebook aims to reach "as good as all Dutch people who have Facebook" this week, NOS reports.

The campaign is based on a series of tips that can also be found elsewhere on Facebook. It includes tips like be skeptical about headlines, take a good look at the web address, and check the source. 

New United States ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra apologized for falsely claiming in 2015 that politicians were set on fire in the Netherlands by Islamic fundamentalists and that there are no-go zones in the country in an interview with the Telegraaf on Saturday. Dutch parliamentarians find it good that he finally retracted these false statements. "Better late than never", PvdA MP Lilianne Ploumen said to the Telegraaf.

The new American ambassador to the Netherlands, Peter Hoekstra, refused to comment at his inaugural press conference in Den Haag about his past allegations claiming politicians were set on fire in the Netherlands. During a press conference right after the ambassador handed over his credential to Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Hoekstra found himself dodging several question regarding his previous statements. "I won't comment on the matter anymore", he announced.

Pete Hoekstra, the new United States ambassador to the Netherlands, apologized for a "fake news" commotion he caused during an interview with Nieuwsuur. "I made certain remarks in 2015 and regret the exchange during the Nieuwsuur interview. Please accept my apology", he said on Twitter.

After all his complaints about fake news, United States president Donald Trump spread some fake news himself. He retweeted a video from the Netherlands showing a "Muslim immigrant" beating up a Dutch boy. According to the Dutch Public Prosecutor, the perpetrator in the video was born and raised in the Netherlands.

On Twitter the Prosecutor said that this incident happened in May this year. The Dutch perpetrator was already sentenced, and completed that sentence successfully.