ⒾMachine translations by Deepl
Solvinity (DigiD)
In November 2025, it was announced that Dutch DigiD provider Solvinity would be acquired by US tech company Kyndryl. Under US law, this would put the Dutch vital infrastructure behind DigiD within reach of the US government, giving access to sensitive personal data of the entire Dutch population. Therefore, in January 2026, the new Firewall foundation, together with a group of scientists, journalists, opinion makers and Privacy First, filed a request with the Dutch Investment Screening Bureau (Bureau Toetsing Investeringen, BTI) and the responsible Minister of Economic Affairs to stop the acquisition of Solvinity by Kyndryl and be recognised as interested parties, followed by a lawsuit about this at the Rotterdam District Court.
A response from the Investment Screening Bureau and the Minister initially failed to materialise. In early March 2026, our coalition's lawyers therefore sent a notice of default to the Minister. A response also failed to materialise and the coalition filed an administrative appeal against this with the District Court of The Hague at the end of March. In April, the District Court of The Hague informed us that our appeal would be referred to the District Court of Rotterdam. There, we also submitted a new request for a preliminary injunction. Our coalition was supported by the fact that the political and societal resistance to a US takeover of Solvinity had now taken massive forms in all sections of Dutch society. In May 2026, the court hearing took place at the Rotterdam District Court. A week later, a positive breakthrough happened: the acquisition of Solvinity by Kyndryl was banned_by the Dutch State Secretary of Economic Affairs. This was to protect the public interest (privacy and state security). Following the acquisition ban, the Firewall foundation and Privacy First subsequently decided to withdraw the pending lawsuit at the Rotterdam District Court due to the resulting lack of a current litigation interest.
According to Privacy First, the takeover ban is the only right decision the Dutch government could have made. Any other outcome would, in our view, have been irresponsible and unlawful. Privacy First hopes that this decision sets a precedent to also take a critical look at the use of other services from outside Europe. This could represent a positive turning point in history.
Besides the Firewall Foundation and Privacy First, the coalition consisted of initiator Eric Smit, Esther van Egerschot, Maxim Februari, Felienne Hermans, Bert Hubert, Joris Luyendijk, Caroline Nevejan, Reijer Passchier, Jelle Postma, Sander Schimmelpenninck, Karin Spaink, Marleen Stikker and Kees Verhoeven. This case was conducted pro bono by Matthijs Kaaks (Boekx Attorneys) and Roland Mans (Corten De Geer Attorneys).
The Firewall foundation and Privacy First will continue to monitor further developments critically and will intervene again if necessary.
