The VVD wants new legislation to authorise mayors to remove social media messages calling for rioting, illegal demonstrations or other disturbances.

A new law would prevent things from “getting out of hand”, VVD MP Ingrid Michon, who initiate the process, told the Telegraaf. Many public disturbances start online and the mayors have too few tools to intervene and stop them before they start, Michon said.

The MP said that if mayors had had the power to remove the messages, incidents like Project X, which saw thousands of people descend on a house in Haren following a message about a birthday party on Facebook could have been prevented, as would mass breaches of the curfew during coronavirus lockdown.

Michon did not mention the A12 road blocks by Extinction Rebellion (XR), or the demonstrations at Schiphol Airport which have led to calls for a revision of the right to demonstrate. It is not clear if calls to participate in peaceful but disruptive demonstrations would be included if the draft legislation becomes law.

Mayors can ban demonstrations using emergency measures but interventions to stop online calls have too little legal justification. An attempt by Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema to shut down drill rapper JayKoppig, who she said had threatened rival rap groups, was shot down by a judge for that reason.

The new law would change that, Michon said, enabling mayors to ask for the removal of inflammatory messages.

The draft law only applies to messages that are placed on public platforms, such as Facebook. Private conversations via apps such as WhatsApp are not included, Michon said.

“We are not trying to get more information, and neither are we authorising mayors to stop people posting messages,” she said. “In our proposal, mayors can only act after the message has been posted,” she said.