// founder
Willem van Lynden
Google moet berispte arts verwijderen uit zoekmachine (Trouw, 2019)
Dutch surgeon wins landmark 'right to be forgotten' case (The Guardian, 2019)
'Vergeetrecht' wordt op het web lang niet altijd toegekend (NRC, 2017)
Rechter verbiedt amateurbeelden zonder toestemming op pornosite (AD, 2022)
Comeback Ali B strandde nog voor hij het podium op kon (RTL Nieuws, 2026)
Willem van Lynden: reputation and privacy litigation
Willem van Lynden founded MediaMaze in Amsterdam in 2012. For fifteen years he has worked on one question: what can a company or a person do when information about them online is wrong, outdated or damaging? Much of the answer is litigation. He brings cases on behalf of clients before the courts, the data protection authorities and the out-of-court dispute settlement bodies set up under the Digital Services Act.
// in numbers
Fifteen years of reputation and privacy cases
600+
Right to be forgotten requests
Handled for companies and individuals, more than anyone else in the Netherlands.
90%
Success rate
When a request, mediation by the Dutch Data Protection Authority and court proceedings are combined, the result is delisted for searches on the client's name.
15+
Years of experience
Since 2012 in online reputation and privacy matters, in Dutch and in English, across Europe.
// where he litigates
Courts, data protection authorities and DSA dispute settlement bodies
District courts and courts of appeal
01In the Netherlands. His opponents have included Google, Microsoft and news publishers. Against publishers, the basis is usually the GDPR: the right to rectification and erasure of personal data that is inaccurate or no longer relevant.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority
02The Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, in complaints and mediation under the GDPR.
The Belgian Data Protection Authority
03The Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit, for clients and publications with a Belgian connection.
Dispute settlement bodies under the Digital Services Act
04The out-of-court dispute settlement bodies of article 21 DSA, when a platform refuses to act on a notice.
// selected decisions
Published decisions
District Court of Amsterdam, 2018
Google ordered to delist a search result about a client (ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2018:3357).
District Court of Midden-Nederland, 2021
Stop Online Shaming against zwartelijstartsen.nl: the website listing around 900 doctors was unlawful and in breach of the GDPR (ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2021:23).
Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden, 2024
The 2021 decision against zwartelijstartsen.nl upheld in full (ECLI:NL:GHARL:2024:1791).
In the media
Willem van Lynden is regularly asked to comment on online reputation and privacy, by The Guardian, NRC, Trouw, AD, RTL Nieuws and NPO 3, among others. The Guardian covered one of his cases against Google in 2019 as a “landmark” right to be forgotten case.
Stop Online Shaming
Willem van Lynden is a board member of Stichting Stop Online Shaming, a foundation that takes collective action against websites that name and shame people.
- In 2021 the foundation won summary proceedings against zwartelijstartsen.nl, a website that listed around 900 doctors as a "blacklist". The District Court of Midden-Nederland held that the website was unlawful and in breach of the GDPR. In 2024 the Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden upheld that decision in full.
- In 2022 the District Court of Amsterdam granted a collective claim by the foundation and the Dutch Expertise Centre for Online Child Abuse against the operator of an adult website.
- After legal pressure from the foundation, kechtube.com went offline. This large adult website published videos on a large scale without the consent of the people shown in them.
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