20.07.2026
3 min
69
Rights groups say Meta is putting Dutch sex workers at greater financial and physical risk by blocking their WhatsApp accounts. Although sex work is legal in the Netherlands, affected users continue to lose access to their accounts without any clear explanation.
For many sex workers in the Netherlands, WhatsApp is the primary way to communicate with regular clients. They rely on the messaging app to arrange appointments and stay in touch with people they already know. Rights groups warn that losing access to these accounts can force workers to deal with unfamiliar clients, significantly increasing the risk of dangerous situations.
Frankie Hermsen, spokesperson for the Dutch support organization for sex workers, said that losing access to WhatsApp leaves many people without an income. According to her, the resulting financial pressure forces them to be less selective when accepting clients, which further increases the risk of violence.
The bans have affected not only individual users but also organizations that support sex workers. Among them is the NGO SHOP, which provides information and practical assistance to people working in the industry. Rights advocates argue that Meta is effectively leaving many sex workers without safe ways to earn a living.
One of those affected, a woman using the pseudonym Felicia, said her personal WhatsApp account, which she used to communicate with clients, had been blocked about three times. She noticed a pattern, saying the restrictions always appeared in the evenings while she was actively messaging clients.
Meta provided little explanation for the suspensions, offering only the option to appeal through an online form. Although Felicia eventually regained access to her account, some restrictions remained, preventing her from arranging new appointments.
Another sex worker experienced a similar incident. During a paid video call with a regular client, her screen suddenly went dark and her personal WhatsApp account was immediately suspended. A few days later, she also lost access to her Instagram and Facebook accounts.
As a result, she lost all of her client contacts and conversation history, despite saying she had been working legally and had not violated Meta’s rules.
WhatsApp’s terms of service explicitly prohibit offering sexual services through business accounts. However, every sex worker interviewed during the investigation said they communicated with clients exclusively through personal accounts.
The wave of suspensions led some affected users to suspect that Meta had been reading their private messages. That is considered unlikely, however, because WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning even the platform itself cannot access the content of users’ conversations.
Meta can still access certain metadata, including phone numbers, information about video calls, and reports submitted by users for spam or fraud. A large number of complaints may therefore have caused the company’s systems to automatically flag these accounts as suspicious.
Some experts believe the issue goes beyond automated moderation. Dutch Member of Parliament Sandra Beckerman argues that American technology companies apply the same moderation policies across different markets without taking local laws into account.
“Sex work is legal here and should therefore be able to be offered legally online. Tech companies like Meta are going along with this to gain a better political and economic position,” Beckerman said.
In her view, this broad and overly conservative approach to moderation can have serious consequences for people who already belong to vulnerable and marginalized communities.
