The Dutch government has blocked American IT giant Kindril's acquisition of Solvinity, a Dutch cloud provider that hosts the Netherlands' online identity platform. The Hague government said the deal could pose “risks to the public interest”.
Dutch Digital Economy Minister Willemijn Aerts said in a machine-translated letter published on Monday that the government had imposed a “total ban” on the takeover. The deal would have allowed Kindril to acquire Solvinity for an undisclosed sum. Solvinity is a service managed by the Dutch government that hosts a platform called DigiD that allows the country's residents to verify their identity when accessing public services.
The deal meant DigiD's data would be under foreign control, raising concerns that it could be requested by U.S. authorities.
The Dutch government did not give a clear reason for blocking the deal, but the move comes as several European countries move to reduce their dependence on the U.S. tech giant amid an increasingly unpredictable and retaliatory Trump administration.
U.S. law allows government authorities, including law enforcement and intelligence agencies, to request that U.S. companies turn over data stored in overseas data centers, regardless of that country's data protection laws.
Politico was first to report the news. Kildrill told the publication that the company was “very disappointed” in the decision.