Julia Janssen is the Ambassador of Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland (SDBN) (The Dutch Data Protection Foundation). Together with Anouk Ruhaak, president of SDBN, she represents the case against Twitter and Amazon in media. She also co-created the awareness campaign Je staat te koop (You are for sale).
The case against X. / Twitter
Between 2013 and 2021, Twitter collected personal data from over 30,000 applications via their advertising platform MoPub. Even when you didn’t have a Twitter account, they followed your real-time location and accessed in-app activities from apps like Shazam, Duolingo, Happn, Grindr, Vinted and many more. This is illegal, dangerous, and affects our freedom, autonomy, equality and democracy. That is why the SDBN is taking Twitter to court – a mass claim for 10 million Dutch citizens, including 1 million children.
In November 2022, we started the awareness campaign Je staat te koop and announced the case to the press. The case gained a lot of attention in media, over forty news outlets wrote or spoke about it. In September 2023, we presented the summons to the Rotterdam court.
Selection of news
Dutch
Parool
Trouw
ANP
FD
Volkskrant
Keuzecast (podcast with Julia Janssen)
Met nerds om tafel (podcast with Julia Janssen)
Nieuwsweekend (radio with Julia Janssen)
English
Reuters
Global data review
Robots.net
Je staat te koop
Besides the graphic campaign, Janssen created a series of videos about the impact of these illegal practices on people’s lives. In four different scenarios, people explain how data and profiling affected their lives.
- Not finding a new job, because of a period tracker app.
- How your parents know that you are gay.
- The ad business feeds on your insecurities.
- Booking a holiday you don’t want.
Concept, scenario and script: Julia Janssen
Concept development and production: Berit Smit
Camera and edit: Eelke Verbeek
Light and sound: Bob Demper
Music: Emile Lagarde
Cast: Yorke Mulder, Afia Anim, Olivier van Klaarbergen, Jeroen Touw, Mijntje Pronk and Max Laros