Meta blocks sex workers' WhatsApp accounts in the Netherlands, where their work is legal

Meta has blocked the WhatsApp accounts of at least five sex workers in the Netherlands over the past year, along with accounts belonging to SHOP, a support organization in The Hague. Sex work is legal in the Netherlands. The blocks came without warning and mostly without explanation, according to an investigation by the Dutch journalism outlet Pointer (KRO-NCRV) published on July 17, 2026.

Blocked in the middle of work

Felicia (not her real name) says her account was blocked about three times. The restrictions tended to appear in the evening, exactly when clients were reaching out. "I do nothing wrong. Yet I'm being prevented from working," she told Pointer. Each time she appealed through Meta's online form and eventually got her account back, but during every suspension she could not schedule a single appointment. There is no way to reach an actual person at Meta.

Another worker had it worse. Her WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook accounts all went down at the same moment, in the middle of a paid video call with a client who had just transferred the money.

Losing an account means losing clients

For most sex workers, WhatsApp is where the client relationship lives. When an account disappears, the client base and chat history disappear with it. Frankie Hermsen, spokesperson for the Dutch Sex Work Reporting and Advice Center (SMAP), says the consequences go beyond lost income: financial pressure makes people less choosy about which clients they accept, and working with unscreened strangers raises the risk of violence.

A support center accused of trafficking

The blocks did not stop at individual workers. SHOP, a knowledge and expertise center in The Hague that supports sex workers, lost its accounts too. When Meta removed the organization's Instagram account, the automated notice claimed SHOP contributed to human trafficking. "For us it's shocking to receive an automatic notice from Meta stating we apparently contribute to trafficking. We are an organization actively combating it," spokesperson Merel van Altena told Pointer. The accounts were eventually restored, but for weeks SHOP's outreach workers could not answer urgent questions, a problem that hit non-Dutch-speaking sex workers hardest.

What Meta can actually see

Some of the affected women suspected Meta was reading their private messages. That is unlikely. WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, so Meta cannot see message content. But Rejo Zenger of the digital rights organization Bits of Freedom points out that Meta still sees plenty: WhatsApp group names, which phone numbers sit in which groups, and when video calls start. External signals feed in too, such as user reports and phone numbers that appear on advertising websites for sexual services. Enough of those signals, and an automated system suspends the account as suspicious.

One rulebook for every market

Sandra Beckerman, a member of the Dutch parliament for the Socialist Party, sees a deeper problem: American tech companies apply the same moderation rules in every market, regardless of local law. "Sex work is legal here and should therefore be legal to offer online," she told Pointer. She links the crackdown to conservative political trends in the United States pushing platforms toward risk-averse policies.

Zenger puts it more bluntly. Sex workers are "canaries in the coal mine": marginalized groups are the first to feel restrictions that can later reach everyone else.

Meta's response

Confronted with the findings, Meta told Pointer: "Based on the described information, we see no reason to assume these accounts should have been blocked under our policy." The company declined to comment on the consequences for the people affected.

Source: Pointer (KRO-NCRV), July 17, 2026.