- Enforcing jurisdiction
- Netherlands · Geography does not establish applicable law.
- Confirmed applicable legislation
- Privacy topics
Court case C/16/536914 / HA RK 22-78 – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2023)
Privacy enforcement record
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A Dutch public broadcaster faced a court case regarding a person's request for access to their posts on a forum. The court ruled on the rights of individuals to access their personal data, which is crucial for transparency.
What happened
A person requested access to their posts on a forum but was denied by the broadcaster, who claimed the user's profile name was not personal data.
Who was affected
A user of the public broadcaster's forum who wanted access to their posts and related information.
What the authority found
The court ruled on the user's right to access personal data, but the broadcaster argued that the user's profile name did not qualify as personal data.
Why this matters
This case highlights the ongoing discussions about data access rights and the definition of personal data. It emphasizes the need for clarity in how organizations handle user requests for information.
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Linked-source text retrieved.
Automated check recorded — 22 March 2026.
Processing notes: national law identified, authority corrected.
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The controller is a Dutch public broadcaster. On their website, they offer a forum, on which registered people can post articles and respond to other articles. The data subject was since 2015 a member of the form and published over 20.000 posts on the forum. On 14 June 2021, the data subject requested access to the posts, in which, according to the controller, he was guilty of picking a personal fight and writing an off-topic post. On 3 February 2022, the controller banned the data subject, because of a fight with another member on the forum. On 21 February 2022, the data subject requested access to information on which house rules he allegedly broke, the messages that allegedly broke these house rules, the opening post of the topic and other posts by others, insofar as they are relevant to establish the violation, any comments on the posts, the comments made by this third party about the data subject that also violated the house rules. On 7 March 2022, the data subject repeated his access request to the controller. On 25 March 2022, the data subject started an action by application (“verzoekschrift”) at the the District Court of First Instance of Central Netherlands (“Rechtbank Midden-Nederland”). The data subject requested the court to order the controller provide a copy of his personal data as requested in his access request, but also all the information under Article 15(1) GDPR. The data subject further requested the court to impose a penalty. The controller argued that the data subject had no right of access, because the data subject’s profile name was not personal data. As it was a pseudonym and not the actual name of the data subject, the data subject was not identifiable. Moreover, the controller invoked journalistic exception under [https://wetten.overheid.nl/jci1.3:c:BWBR0040940&hoofdstuk=4&artikel=43&z=2018-05-25&g=2018-05-25 Article 43 of the Dutch national implementation law of the GDPR] (“Uitvoeringswet Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming – UAVG
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case C/16/536914 / HA RK 22-78 in NL
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Ruling Date
4 January 2023
Authority
DPA RbMidden-Nederland
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case C/16/536914 / HA RK 22-78 - Netherlands (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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