Privacy complaints spike in the Netherlands, driven by data breaches and camera surveillance

In 2025, the Dutch privacy and data protection authority (AP) received over 13,500 complaints about individuals or organizations that may not be complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

According to the privacy supervisor’s 2025 report, the number of complaints increased by more than 75% compared to 2024. The AP thinks this is because public awareness of privacy has grown, and people are encountering many privacy problems.

Most complaints the regulator received concerned organizations that don’t disclose which personal data they use, or refuse to delete data when people submit a data removal request.

In addition, citizens expressed their concerns about privately owned cameras, such as doorbell cameras and security cameras. The AP also observed an increase in complaints about workplace camera surveillance. This involved situations in which employees were reprimanded for their performance based on camera footage.

Lastly, the regulator received over 400 complaints about tracking software, including cookies. People complained about not being able to refuse cookies and the absence of cookie banners.

“The sharp increase in the number of privacy complaints shows that people know where to turn to. It also shows that people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of protecting their personal data,” Aleid Wolfsen, Chairman of the AP, says in a statement.

“At the same time, we see that many organizations initially respond inappropriately when people seek to exercise their privacy rights. And that is concerning,” he continues.

The healthcare sector got the most complaints. This is due to a cyberattack on Clinical Diagnostics, a medical research lab whose IT systems were hacked by Nova.

The ransomware extortion group stole the personal information of 850,000 participants in a cervical cancer screening program. To resolve the issue, Clinical Diagnostics paid an unknown ransom to the hackers.

Following the healthcare sector, the privacy watchdog received a lot of complaints about corporate service providers and government entities.

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