ARTICLE 19 Europe has joined five civil society organisations calling for transparency about a major data centre development in Amsterdam after NRC investigation confirmed Microsoft as the sole tenant of what appears to be a hyperscale facility, despite a ban on such data centres.
The development, which consists of three 85-meter towers consuming as much electricity as all households in the nearby city of Haarlem, was approved despite the Netherlands’ 2022 moratorium on hyperscale data centres. The facility received permits by splitting a single project into three separate applications.
Earlier this month, ARTICLE 19 Europe signed a joint letter with Leitmotiv, Advocates for the Future, Bits of Freedom, the critical infrastructure lab, and De Goede Zaak demanding clarity from Amsterdam municipality and North Holland province on the project’s ownership structure and governance requirements.
‘When local permitting bypasses national infrastructure policy, we have a democratic governance problem’, said Antanina Maslyka, ARTICLE 19’s Regional Director for Europe.
‘This concentration of critical digital infrastructure under a single corporate operator, consuming vast public electricity resources, requires transparent decision-making processes’, added Dr. Corinne Cath, Head of Digital at ARTICLE 19.
The case highlights broader European tensions over hyperscale development, digital autonomy, and community participation in infrastructure decisions with long-term human rights and environmental impacts.
ARTICLE 19 will continue monitoring hyperscale developments globally as part of its work challenging Big Tech power and ensuring human rights remain central to digital infrastructure governance.