Forum for Democracy Member of Parliament Pepijn van Houwelingen is one of the most active members as far as enforcing transparency and openness from the government on headache files; files on which the government prefers to remain mostly very UNDOUBLE. Now he has set his sights on secret calls for censorship from the government to Twitter and Facebook and on meetings at the Interior Ministry in which the social media giants were apparently also involved.
Member of Parliament Pepijn van Houwelingen of the Forum for Democracy (FvD) party has posed Parliamentary questions to Health Minister Ernst Kuipers (D66) in connection with revelations from recently published e-mail messages from the ministry. These messages raise questions about possible censorship on Twitter and conversations between the ministry and social media giants Twitter and Facebook.
Email correspondence shows that there have been calls for censorship from the ministry. Van Houwelingen's concern stems from the idea that such calls go against the basic principles of democracy. He therefore sought clarification as to who was the specific target of this alleged censorship and why an attempt was made to silence this person.
Of particular interest is the fact that the Health and Youth Inspectorate (IGJ) was also involved. This suggests that at least one of the censored individuals was a medical professional, possibly a physician. Van Houwelingen has indicated he wants clarification on this.
The parliamentary questions further address the issue of Facebook and Twitter's presence at certain ministry meetings. According to information from the emails, these companies were present on at least one occasion. Van Houwelingen wants clarity on which meetings these were and what was discussed. The central question is whether these conversations were on the topic of disinformation and, if not, what other topics were discussed.
These questions stem from the suggestion in the emails that censorship and active cooperation between large corporations and the state may have been discussed behind closed doors. Van Houwelingen stressed that it is of utmost importance to provide full transparency about these possible developments.
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Asking these questions highlights the important role parliament plays in curbing the power of the executive branch. It calls on the ministry to be accountable for its actions and to clarify its relationships with large technology companies. It also highlights the ongoing discussion about the role of social media in public discourse and concerns about possible censorship.
It now remains to be seen how Minister Kuipers will respond to the parliamentary questions and what impact this will have on relations between the government, social media companies, and Dutch citizens.