Netherlands – Ruttes old Nokia – Politics

Until a few days ago, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte used an old Nokia phone to communicate via SMS. Because it allegedly only had storage space for a total of 20 text messages, he personally deleted messages every evening. What he himself considered important, he forwarded to officials. The Volkskrant newspaper published these details about the head of government’s communication behavior on Wednesday. The newspaper had sued for the release of the messages that Rutte had sent and received in the first months of the corona crisis. However, the newspaper found what the government released to be incomplete and appealed. Rutte’s legal representative then brought the prime minister’s deletion practice to light. It is unclear whether Rutte violated legal rules. Politically relevant communication must be archived, argues Volkskrant. On social media, Rutte was criticized for being self-important. The prime minister has been communicating with a modern smartphone for almost a week.