Several people were arrested last week after death threats were made against a police officer involved in a drug investigation. A criminal group promised “tens of thousands of euros for information about the officer,” according to a police report.
The alleged criminal group threatened to kill the officer in messages published online.
“The Police and the Public Prosecutor’s office take the threat very seriously. Security measures to protect the officer were undertaken,” police said.
With a nationwide public transit strike scheduled for Tuesday, Dutch are looking for other ways to get around tomorrow. Carpool- and ride sharing hashtags are already trending on social media. If you want to offer or request a ride, look for hashtags like #liftaangeboden, #meerijden #carpool, #carpoolen, #samenrijden, #liftnodig, #treinstaking, #ovstaking.
"Most of the fake news that Dutch people come across online comes from our own country", Peter Bruger, a researcher at Leiden University, said to newspaper Trouw based on his research.
Facebook is not keeping to promises it made to the Tweede Kamer last week about political transparency on the social media platform, according to privacy and civil rights movement Bits of Freedom who put the social media giant's promises to the test, Nieuwsuur reports.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs updated its travel advice for Turkey on Monday to warn Dutch travelers to the country that phone privacy is not something that is respected in Turkey. Phones and other electronic devices can be searched at Turkish airports, and statements made on social media may be punishable in the country, the Ministry warns, NU.nl reports.
In the two days after flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, a Russian troll factory posted over 65 thousand tweets blaming Ukraine for the disaster, De Groene Amsterdammer reports after analyzing 9 million tweets posted by a St Petersburg based troll factory called the Internet Research Agency.
According to the magazine, an organized campaign was launched after MH17 was shot down. The Internet Research Agency played a role in this, as did pro-Russia media who circulated theories that 'proved' Russia innocent in the disaster.
On Friday Facebook launched its library of political advertisements for the Netherlands and the other European Union member states. In this ad library, users can find advertisements from political parties and on political topics. The library is Facebook's response to pressure from EU policy makers to be more transparent about political advertisements on social media, NU.nl reports.
"Unacceptable", Prime Minister Mark Rutte said about threats made against FvD leader Thierry Baudet after the nationalist party's major win in the Provincial States elections last week. All politicians must be able to perform their duties in safety and freedom, Rutte said to the Telegraaf. "Democracy is not easy, but it is a valuable possession.
Victim Support Netherlands is calling on people to stop posting hurtful comments about traffic accidents, crimes and disasters on social media. This includes comments like "own fault" or "they should have known better". Such remarks deeply affect victims and their loved ones, which is why Victim Support is launching an online campaign against hurtful reactions on Facebook, Twitter and other social media, NOS reports.
The painters of Voorschoten painting company Zitman & Co may soon have to trade in their paintbrushes for the stage. For a laugh they recorded a carnival number and posted it on social media, where it was viewed almost 200 thousand times.
A brawl involving around 100 young people in Boxtel on Sunday morning, was pre-arranged on social media. The two groups of young people agreed to fight each other on the Markt when the clubs closed at around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, Brabants Dagblad reports.
Nearly 5.3 million people liked, shared or responded to Dutch 'pulp news' on Facebook at least once, according to a study by Leiden University that was published on Thursday. The researchers consider pulp news to be commercially driven reports that look like news items. According to the researchers, the term 'fake news' is too politically charged, NU.nl reports.
A 16-year-old girl shot dead at her school in Rotterdam on Tuesday reported to the police that the man suspected of killing her was threatening her. Humeyra Oz went to the police with a photo 31-year-old Bekir E. sent her, showing the man posing with two firearms, sources around the investigation told the Telegraaf.
Police officers were present at five secondary school locations in Culemborg on Monday morning after a video showing a firearm appeared on social media. The video may be linked to one of the schools, according to the police. "We'd rather be safe than sorry", the police said, according to NU.nl.
The police are "constantly monitoring" the situation, but stress that there is no reason to assume that there is an actual threat. Lessons at the schools continued as usual.
Several citizens alerted the police to the video on Sunday. Who posted the video is not yet clear.
The Public Prosecutor wants harsher punishment for those who insult or assault people based on their gender identity, according to a new designation of discrimination the Public Prosecution Service published on Tuesday. From January 1st Prosecutors will be able to demand harsher punishments if someone is discriminated against because they are transsexual or transgender, RTL Nieuws reports.
There will be no so-called Project X party in Katwijk, Mayor Wim Hillenaar of Cuijk, which covers Katwijk, announced. Measures will be taken to prevent any irregularities. On social media, thousands of young people said they were going to the party, RTL Nieuws reports.
"Given the circumstances, we can do nothing else but prepare for all scenarios", Hillenaar said. "But there is no party in Katwijk and there will be no party in Katwijk. People from outside Cuijk who come here with bad intentions will be stopped."
Government information service Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst is looking for an online communications advisors to write posts for Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Twitter and other social media. The job entails translating government policy into accessible information for the outside world in the form of creative texts, vlogs and videos for social media, AD reports.
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 witch hunt is happening on social media against people who posted tasteless responses or jokes about a railway accident in Oss in which four children were killed last week. Some of the targets of this witch hunt feel so threatened that they've deleted their social media accounts, De Stentor reports.
Russian trolls are trying to influence Dutch discussions on social media with fake accounts, De Groene Amsterdammer reports based on its own research. These trolls show support for anti-Islam party PVV and spread pro-Russian information when it comes to the MH17 disaster, according to the weekly newspaper.
Russian internet trolls tried to influence the public debate in the Netherlands and Belgium using Twitter accounts that, according to Twitter, are linked to 'trolling factory' Internet Research Agency (IRA) in St. Petersburg. These accounts posted over 900 Dutch language tweets over the past two years, NRC reports based on its own research.
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".
A teenager from Tilburg is facing threats after the police mistakenly showed a photo of him as a suspect in the assault of a 73-year-old man on television program Bureau Brabant on Monday. The boy's family is considering filing a damage claim and pressing charges of slander and libel, the family confirmed to Brabants Dagblad.
The Segbroek College in The Hague will hold commemoration on Saturday for 15-year-old Clay Haime, who passed away over the weekend. His family says that he died after participating in a social media challenge, AD reports.
On the Segbroek College's website, the school says that Clay died suddenly in a fatal accident, giving no further details. "Friday afternoon Clay went home cheerfully. On Friday night he had a fatal accident. He died of the consequences of this on Saturday", the school said.
