Cabinet approves bill criminalising the glorification of terrorism
Terrorism poses a significant threat to the democratic rule of law and the safety of Dutch society. Terrorist groups seek not only to impose their ideology and destabilise our society through violence but also to spread intolerant and violent messages online to recruit more supporters of their beliefs. These supporters then become inspired to disseminate similar content. In response, the Cabinet has agreed to publish a bill for consultation that aims to make glorifying terrorism and publicly expressing support for terrorist organisations criminal offences. The Minister of Justice and Security intends for this bill to clamp down on the public glorification of terrorist violence and overt support for terrorist organisations.
Minister Van Weel of Justice and Security: ‘Terrorist and violent messages spread almost instantaneously across the globe, especially on social media. Terrorist groups use this technique to draw others into a dangerous ideology. The distribution of these messages, for instance waving flags of banned terrorist organisations, can make others ideologically susceptible to supporting or eventually participating in terrorist crimes. For this reason, we now propose criminalising both the glorification of terrorism and the overt support of terrorist organisations, backed by a stringent maximum penalty. We are setting a standard to protect our society and the democratic rule of law.
The bill introduces three new offences. First, it will become a criminal offence to publicly celebrate or praise a terrorist offence – for example, through a speech, written text or image – for which life imprisonment may be imposed, such as a terrorist attack resulting in death or injury. This glorification of terrorism will carry a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment or a substantial fine. Distributing material in which terrorist violence is glorified, such as a video of an attack accompanied by praise, will also become a criminal offence. It will carry a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment or a fine.
Publicly expressing support for a banned terrorist organisation will also be criminalised. This could include waving flags or wearing clothing bearing certain symbols or logos of banned terrorist organisations in public. Expressing support on social and other media will also become a criminal offence. It will likewise carry a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment or a fine. With these measures, the government aims to prevent terrorist messages from becoming normalised and to protect society from being further undermined by terrorist influences.
Originally published at https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2025/06/20/cabinet-approves-bill-criminalising-the-glorification-of-terrorism
