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The consultation on the new bill 'Law on administrative approach to online child pornography material', which started on February 16, has mainly received negative reactions from access providers. It is claimed, among other things, that they are being lumped together with bad hosters. Under the proposal, ICT companies in the Netherlands may soon be obligated to clean up their servers from online child pornography. Upon notification of child pornography material, they must remove it from their servers within 24 hours. An independent authority will oversee this. The Authority for the Approach to Online Child Pornography Material can compel negligent companies to comply with a binding instruction or penalty payment order. If they continue to fail, the authority can ultimately impose a fine of up to four percent of the company's revenue.
In 2019, we conducted a study on another possible approach to tackling hosters of child pornography: administrative enforcement. Administrative enforcement is the most drastic action a regulator can take within this legal framework, whereby the regulator takes actions itself to remove content. Our study revealed that administrative enforcement has limited applicability for bad hosters who use complex structures to stay under the radar (bulletproof hosters). Additionally, there was a potential for significant collateral damage. Therefore, the Minister has now opted for a penalty payment order.