Foreign investors cause mass claims boom in the Netherlands, fear of overloading the legal system

“This is a big business,” says Cor Wijtvliet of the Foundation for Market Information Research, which last year filed a claim of 1.4 billion euros against TikTok on behalf of 64,000 users for privacy violations. “There is a lot of money involved, it is simply a revenue model.”

This article was published on February 16th, 2022 on NRC. Written by Stefan Vermeulen.

His foundation is not the only one in the Netherlands that wants to compete with the Chinese app maker: two other parties also demand large amounts from TikTok. That also happens more often: in claim cases against Apple, Airbus, and the cheating car companies, several parties have also come forward. This confronts the Dutch judges with a new phenomenon: before it can deal with compensation, the court must determine which claimant will take the lead in the process.

"We are actually behind 2-0, because our foundation is financed by the board members themselves," says Wijtvliet, in one of the claims against TikTok. “There is a lot of money behind those other parties. The judge will certainly consider whether we have the capacity to sit out the case financially. But in the end, it is also about the solidity of the case. We think ours is good.”

Please find the link to the full article (in Dutch): https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2022/02/16/buitenlandse-investeerders-veroorzaken-hausse-aan-massaclaims-vrees-voor-overbelasting-rechtssysteem-2-a4090501#:~:text=Luister%20meer...-,Buitenlandse%20investeerders%20veroorzaken%20hausse%20aan%20massaclaims%2C%20vrees%20voor%20overbelasting%20rechtssysteem,van%20een%20hausse%20aan%20massaclaims.