Just over half of Dutch adults (51%) surveyed are concerned about protecting their online privacy — but one third of people (33%) don’t do anything to protect their online data. These results are from an online survey we conducted in October 2024 with YouGov that asked 2,002 adults in the Netherlands what they think about online privacy and security.
These findings stand in contrast to our UK survey from the end of 2021(new window), where a far greater number of people were concerned about their online privacy (87%) and took precautions (only 18% of people did nothing to protect their online information).
These results might expose a difference in between the Dutch and British approach to privacy, online or otherwise. It might also signal a kind of resignation — after the never-ending parade of surveillance, hacks, and breaches, people might understandably feel as though it’s impossible to keep their information private.
The risks that worry the Dutch the most
When we asked people what their main concern was whenever they accessed the internet, these were their responses:
- Online scams/fraud: 59%
- Personal data being exposed/hacked: 56%
- Data breaches: 41%
- Tech company surveillance: 25%
- Government surveillance: 19%
- Not applicable: 12% don’t have any concern in particular when accessing the internet
- Don’t know: 4%
These main concerns, scams, hacks, and data breaches, are all immediate, personal risks that can often come with direct consequences (you need to change a password, cancel a credit card, etc.) and receive lots of attention in the media. Also, given the number of scams, hacks, and data breaches that happen every year, there’s a good chance that a least a few of our survey subjects have experienced one first hand. Meanwhile, surveillance is a less direct, more systemic threat that gets much less attention from the news.
This evaluation of threats is echoed in the data that survey respondents were most worried about being stolen, which is listed below:
- Username and passwords: 59%
- Personal identifying information: 49%
- Financial information: 44%
- Social media profiles: 21%
- Personal communications: 20%
- Healthcare information: 14%
- Don’t know: 6%
- Not applicable: not worried about data being stolen or hacked online: 10%
Two of the three top concerns, usernames/passwords and financial information, are directly related to fraud, showing just how much the Dutch public is worried about being scammed online.
However, when we asked people who they think is most likely to misuse their data, the top answers were:
- Advertisers: 55%
- Tech companies: 53%
- The government: 29%
Only 33% of respondents trust Dutch institutions to with how they handle their online privacy, which isn’t surprising given that in just the past year, the Dutch police(new window) and the Dutch military(new window) suffered major hacks and two Dutch political parties had their websites taken down by DDoS attacks(new window). But the fact that 53% of people say they think tech companies will misuse their data while only 25% think tech companies’ data collection is their main concern suggests that people are either not connecting how privacy and security are related or feel that there’s nothing they can do about tech companies abusing their privacy.
The precautions the Dutch take
Roughly 56% of people surveyed said they had changed their online behavior because of privacy concerns, of which 10% made a significant change. When we asked what they did to protect their information online, we received the following responses:
- Avoid sharing information and data online: 33%
- Avoid certain apps or websites: 29%
- Adjust privacy settings on apps/social media: 24%
- Use a password manager: 17%
- Use a VPN: 16%
- Use end-to-end encrypted email: 9%
- Use encrypted cloud storage: 8%
- None of these: 33%
This generally suggests that the Dutch public isn’t taking the most effective measures to keep their online information safe. While you should always try to minimize how much information you share with any app or service, sometimes it’s unavoidable.
Similarly, for a population that seems very concerned about online scams, relatively few Dutch people use a password manager, one of the most effective tools for securing all your online accounts.
Generational divide
Your age also affects how you approach your privacy and these institutions. When asked what they do to protect themselves online, almost a quarter of people between 18 and 24 (24%) said they avoid sharing information or data online, but surprisingly, 37% of the same group do nothing. This echoes our survey in the UK, where young people who have grown up with pervasive data collection seem more inclined to accept it as the norm.
The younger generation are also more trusting of Dutch institutions with how they handle their online privacy – 40% trust Dutch institutions, compared to 33% of the overall population.
Older respondents (aged 55+) were less trusting than their younger counterparts of Dutch institutions — just 31% trust how they handle their data privacy.
A better way to protect your privacy
This survey shows that a (slim) majority of Dutch people are worried about their privacy but they often don’t use the best ways to protect their information. The good news is that there are simple steps that Dutch people can take to ensure that their data is more secure and private online, including:
- Use encrypted services: End-to-end encrypted services, like Signal(new window), Proton Mail(new window), or Proton Drive(new window), allow you to share messages, files, and photos without letting anyone access them besides your intended recipient.
- Use a VPN: VPNs are effective tools to prevent websites and your internet service provider from seeing your IP address. Proton VPN also has advanced features, like NetShield Ad-blocker, that can block ads, trackers, and malware.
- Use a password manager and 2FA: One of the best ways to prevent fraud is to secure your accounts with strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication(new window) (2FA). A password manager helps you create and manage all these different passwords. Proton Pass(new window) even helps you monitor the dark web to see if your email is exposed in a data breach, allowing you to change your password before attackers can exploit it.
- Fight for a fairer internet: Currently, Big Tech can get away with abusing your privacy because they face little, if any, competition. Even if privacy is a major concern, as it is for a majority of Dutch people, if you want a smartphone, you must choose between Apple or Google, which both collect and use your data. Making the internet a level playing field will allow privacy-focused alternatives to succeed and pressure Big Tech to respond to market demands.
Online privacy is possible. We simply must make people aware of the simple steps they can take to protect their data and force Big Tech to stop bending the internet to their advantage so that privacy-focused services have a fair shot. This would allow people to choose services that address their concerns and potentially eliminate the sense of resignation.
Note on the data: All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov. Total sample size was 2,002 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between October 21-29, 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Netherlands adults (aged 18+).
If you would like to see all the results from the Proton-YouGov survey on privacy attitudes in the Netherlands, email us at media@proton.me.
