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Netherlands Blocks US Takeover of Vital Digital Supplier (politico.eu) 86

Posted by BeauHD from the not-so-fast dept.
"Following months of public debate and protests against American IT giant Kyndryl's proposed acquisition of Solvinity, a Dutch cloud provider that hosts the Netherlands' online identity platform, the Dutch government has decided to block the acquisition," writes longtime Slashdot reader rastakid. "The deal triggered fears that it would mean that 'DigiD' data would fall under foreign control, and could be demanded by U.S. authorities." Politico reports: In a letter to the national parliament published on Tuesday, State Secretary for Digital Economy Willemijn Aerdts said the national authority charged with screening investments had advised the government to block the acquisition. The purchase was seen as posing "a possible risk to the public interest."

The government on Monday decided to adopt the advice and block the acquisition, Aerdts said. "The Netherlands attaches great value to the presence of foreign, especially U.S.-based tech companies, and their added value to the Dutch economy and digital infrastructure, but it maintains, at the same time, an independent investment screening framework aimed at protecting the public interest and which applies equally to all investors, independent of their country of origin," the letter read. Kyndryl said in a statement it was "extremely disappointed" about the decision. "The politicization of this process has overshadowed the clear and important benefits this transaction would have brought to Solvinity's customers and Dutch citizens."

Further reading: Challenges Face European Governments Pursuing 'Digital Sovereignty'
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Netherlands Blocks US Takeover of Vital Digital Supplier More

Netherlands Blocks US Takeover of Vital Digital Supplier

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  • Smart move (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:07PM (#66161120) Homepage

    The Dutch have always been smart and pragmatic, and that tradition continues here.

    benefits this transaction would have brought to Solvinity's customers and Dutch citizens.

    The Dutch have always been plain-spoken and excellent at detecting bullshit, and that tradition continues here.

    • We have digital IDs in Brazil and it's mantained by a state-owned company. This situation would never have ocurred here.

      • We have digital IDs in Brazil and it's mantained by a state-owned company. This situation would never have ocurred here.

        That's terrifying.

        • Which private company do you support with the handling nationwide digital ID's?

          And don't say "just don't have digital IDs", that's not the point.

        • No, it's not.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by 0123456 ( 636235 )

            Cool.

            Now imagine that Trump could deplatform all Democrats from government, employment and the financial system by simply deleting their Digital ID.

            One click, all gone. Nothing they can do about it because they no longer exist in the digital world.

            • Now imagine that Trump could deplatform all Democrats from government, employment and the financial system by simply deleting their Digital ID. One click, all gone. Nothing they can do about it because they no longer exist in the digital world.

              Delete? No. No one is freed from the system. Marked as a threat to national security, denied employment, travel, housing, banking, etc. But still tracked and logged. Even prisoners have IDs.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

              Are Americans somehow unaware that their governments have all sorts of "digital IDs" for them, from drivers licenses and passports to the draft they're registered for when they turn 18?

              Now imagine that Trump could

              If your concern is that one person in your government could delete your ID then you've got bigger concerns than having your ID deleted.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by jezwel ( 2451108 )

                If your concern is that one person in your government could delete your ID then you've got bigger concerns than having your ID deleted.

                They do have bigger concerns than that, because US judicial and legislative systems are currently bound to the executive branch, and their executive branch is locked under kompromat.

            • This is a very ignorant take.

              First of all, we still have our papers. Digital IDs are used to access public services on a much easier and secure way.

              Secondly, your extreme scenario absolutely doesn't depend on digital IDs to happen. Actually, it's already happening for many immigrants who are having their visas/authorizations revoked.

        • That's terrifying.

          To be clear, you think it's less terrifying to have a private for profit company gatekeep your connection to government's digitial services?

        • No, it's not. This is for requesting a new driver's license, filing your taxes, looking at your medical records, etc.

          Why would I want anyone else but the government involved?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          What is "terrifying" about governments handing out IDs?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      The Dutch have always been plain-spoken and excellent at detecting bullshit

      Thank you.

    • Pragmatic? The decision was made at the very last minute despite the grave risks having been pointed out months ago. No action was taken. Now they unnecessarily blocked the takeover instead of taking actual pragmatic action. Such as: offering Solvinity to let the acquisition go through, if they are willing to end the contract for this service early, and sell the servers that are already living in a Dutch government-owned data center to a new partner willing to operate them.

      • Indeed. This is an in itself positive move at the end of a political shitshow.

        In fact, the past decades of centre-right or straight rightwing governments in the Netherlands have been defined by ignoring many, many problems until it was already too late to properly deal with them and subsequently haphazardly trying to implement shitty badly thought out stop-gaps.
        In the name of "small government" "not meddling in things" and everything.

      • Re:Smart move (Score:4, Informative)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @05:45PM (#66161558)

        No action was taken.

        Lots of actions were taken. This just happens to be the first that had a meaningful outcome within the legal framework. The ACM looked at this, the government contracts committee looked at this, it was subject to a legal battle in the courts, and ultimately a mix of this allowed the BTI to claim jurisdiction at which point they could issue a legal recommendation which the government jumped on basically instantly.

        if they are willing to end the contract for this service early

        The contract with Solvinity would have ended naturally in a couple of week since it was due to expire on the 6th of August. Moving the contract to another provider was one of the things that was investigated by the government and the estimated duration for this was over a year worth of effort - unable to be done in the timeframe required. The government renewed the contract for 2 years on that basis. This was subject to a court case where citizens sued the government for renewing the contract, but the contract was lawful and reasoning behind it valid.

    • Indeed. They simply applied the standard translation matrix to a US company's PR-speak:

      The politicization of [us selling 'DigiD' data to the NSA and five-eyes] has overshadowed the clear and important benefits this transaction would have brought to [our bottom line].

  • ...a new corporate name.

    Jeebus Christmas, what drunken Scrabble game did "Kyndryl" come out of?

    • ...a new corporate name.

      Jeebus Christmas, what drunken Scrabble game did "Kyndryl" come out of?

      Did you recognize/remember the name? If so, the marketing team was successful (just like all those drug names that you see advertised on TV and you are supposed to ask your Doctor about (even if you can't quite remember what the drug is supposed to do for you)).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by zlives ( 2009072 )

        anal leakage, its always anal leakage

      • Did you recognize/remember the name?

        No. They didn't. Their comment made that clear.

        If so, the marketing team was successful

        Then they weren't.

        Their company sounds like an antihistamine removed from the market due to heart failures.

      • all those drug names that you see advertised on TV and you are supposed to ask your Doctor about (even if you can't quite remember what the drug is supposed to do for you)).

        I just sing all the jingles at my doctor until he prescribes something to calm me down.

        Oh, oh, oh, OZEMPIC...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Not if you pick a spelling that make pronunciation unclear and therefore the name fails to stick in your head. Without looking up at the text above the best I can come up with is kindle. That makes it a marketing fail in my book. I would agree with OP, a new name is where they should start. Still I guess if their target market is phonics experts with photographic memories then they are a great success...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      "Kyn" referencing "kinship" and "Dryl" referencing "tendril"

      basically tentacle porn

    • It came out of a conference room in IBM's marketing division as they were getting ready to spin the company off. So, "drunken Scrabble game" is giving them far too much credit. It was a room of idiots throwing consonants at each other until someone lost an eye.

  • Benefit to Dutch citizens? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:16PM (#66161156)

    Precisely what benefit would have been provided to Dutch citizens by the datacentre owner becoming American?

    • Whatever benefit the injection of outside capital into the economy would have been. Someone clearly decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, as is their right.

      • Whatever benefit the injection of outside capital into the economy would have been. Someone clearly decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, as is their right.

        Foreign takeovers don't inject any capital into the economy, they take capital out of the economy by definition. The GDP attributed to Solvinity's operations would be accounted for by a company based in New York.

        • For one year the investment is added to GDP, eventually it turns negative but for developing countries it's still a good deal.

          For developed nations, foreign investment is mostly only beneficial to the investors, because they can venue shop in disputes.

          • Are you sure about it turning negative? That hasn't been the overall case in Asia.

          • You keep using this word "investment" but you don't know what it means. Buying an existing living business is not investing in a company. The beneficiaries are the original owners who walk away with money.

            If you have a business worth $1m, and I decide to take it over by buying out your stake for $1m, you have money, I have a business, and the business itself has no additional capital unless I decide to do so future investment which has nothing to do with purchasing a business.

        • No, they necessarily inject capital, that's how buying a thing works. Also, GDP only includes what is produced within a nation's borders, so it would not count for the US GDP, only Dutch GDP.

          • No they don't. When you buy a company they don't have any additional capital. What you do is buy out the stake someone else has in that company. The company itself is not richer for it and doesn't magically have any capital.

            E.g. I own a business worth $1m. You buy it for $1m. I personally now have $1m, and the business's balance sheet is unchanged. No capital is injected into any part of the business.

            You are right about GDP though, that was a booboo of mine. However it does directly take value out of the Ne

    • Free sharing with Vlad?

      Oh you said benefit. Nevermind.

    • "Everybody wants to be American" is the assumption they're operating under. I don't think it's been formally taught to them, and they probably don't recognize the assumption either.

      It seems to be a deep-seated belief, probably bolstered by them working with foreign sellouts on the regular. People eager to give their company over to the big American moneyman so they can go retire on a yacht. Glad someone over in Dutch-land is pulling their head out of their ass,though. Maybe I can move there some day.

    • The owners are Dutch citizens. They would have been made incredibly wealthy. It is your own fault if you interpreted that statement to mean all Dutch citizens.

  • DigiD explained (Score:5, Informative)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:22PM (#66161178)

    For those who don't understand what DigiD is, it's the identity verification system used by the Dutch government for... EVERYTHING. Want to change your health insurance? DigiD login. File your taxes? DigiD login. Register a change of address? DigiD login. Get a new driver's license? DigiD login (after which you receive your new license and then use the app to link the new license to DigiD. Heck you want to get your local council to come and do a waste pick-up from your street - DigiD login.

    The Netherlands is one of the most digitised countries in the world, but that comes of course with risks, they are very inflexible when the digital systems go down. That there wasn't a legal mandate to keep this company under Dutch control is the most astounding thing that's come out of this debate.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dskoll ( 99328 )

      Looks like there now is an effective mandate to keep DigiD under Dutch control, even if it's not explicitly spelled out in law.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        This.

        Looks like there is a review process in place. And it caught this move in time. The "legal mandate" may have existed before this. But not triggered until ownership was to be changed.

        • Re:DigiD explained (Score:5, Informative)

          by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @03:18PM (#66161346)

          Looks like there is a review process in place. And it caught this move in time.

          Not quite. This was more of an intervention. In fact the discussions over the past 6 months have largely been focused on figuring out how to actually block the sale and on what grounds. The final decision may even be questionable. Initially the competition authority wanted to intervene and couldn't. The lower house attempted and failed. There was an attempt to move the contract but time didn't allow so the contract was extended for a short period. That kicked off a legal fight where the courts also ruled that despite how bad of an idea this was there wasn't really anything they could do to stop it.

          The final deciding factor came from the BTI - who investigates business dealings with critical infrastructure providers. Solvinity wasn't considered one since all they had was a contract to provide services, but it wasn't really until that contract was extended due to the complexity of moving at short notice that someone convinced them they have jurisdiction to investigate, and now they've issued a legal opinion that caused the government to intervene on national security grounds.

          There was no real process in this review. It was more of an "oh FAAAARK how can we stop this?" process.

          To be clear there is a legal mandate but that is only to maintain the data within the country. The issue of potential foreign ownership didn't really come into the existing law in any clearly defined way.

    • Heck you want to get your local council to come and do a waste pick-up from your street - DigiD login.

      The Netherlands is one of the most digitised countries in the world,

      With my local council (UK). You (entirely online) book a collection and pay the fee without logging in. I suppose without the login, you could pay for the council to go to random house (for a fee) to fail to collect large items which aren't there. This does not appear to have been a problem so far.

      • The difference is in the service requirements. We don't pay a fee for this and therefore it is limited to local residents of said council, hence an identity verification step.

  • First off... who is Kyndryl... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:32PM (#66161202)

    And how did they become a "major player" in just five years since they were founded? And why is blackrock involved?

  • This is the company name equivalent of that "Curtains for Zoosha? K-smog and Batboy caught flipping a grunt" meme. I feel old.

  • Kyndryl said in a statement it was "extremely disappointed" about the decision. "The politicization of this process has overshadowed the clear and important benefits this transaction would have brought to Solvinity's customers and Dutch citizens."

    What about the data of the Dutch citizens becoming Kim Jong Orange's bitch?

  • Incorporation is a privledge (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:52PM (#66161272)

    So it's well within reason and in fact a necessary function for governments to deny such acquisitions and mergers. This is a good reason, market conditions are a good reason, some companies just getting too big is a good reason. There's no right to such things so they only happen at the behest of the public and that attitude should be used more often.

    I can think of at least a couple dozen mergers and acquisitions in my lifetime that simply had no good reason to have happened besides shareholder value and have basically made life worse for everyone.

  • How many allies and partners? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by logjon ( 1411219 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @03:00PM (#66161304)
    How many allies and partners have we threatened since Jan '25? How many have we waged economic warfare against, while rewarding dictators? How many have we threatened with fucking annexation like some tin pot shit hole? At this point, any liberal democracy would have to be suicidal to let this nation acquire so much as an ounce more leverage over them.

  • They did the right thing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by homerbrew ( 10094532 ) on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @04:06PM (#66161424)
    Sadly, based on how our current administration has made some unreasonable demands from tech companies and other countries, I think they are doing the right thing. There is no way they should allow their highly private data to be held by a US company which could just as easily feed that data into Palintier or some other AI and your data will no longer be private. This admin has show they do not like data to be private at all

    • Completely agree, under Trump the US is not an honourable trading partner and an antagonist. Even with China's systemic problems they are outshining the US in trade and diplomacy. Dump Trump before he wrecks your country.

  • USA company is sad that can't do a digital takeover of another nation's government. News at 11.

  • .. finally acted in favor of it's people. Yankee go home.

    • You won't let us come in the front and seemingly only door known to ever exist. Fine, good. Good and great. That solves the problem forever. you've suitably defeated us squarely. We know of no other way to achieve our goals than a peaceful, upfront takeover of a company. We shall take our mayflower ships and leave from your shores. We Yankee pilgrims know how to leave the Netherlands when we aren't wanted.

  • Take that, Orange Villain!

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