Relaunched Dutch social media platform Hyves criticized over U.S. tech reliance

The relaunch of the Dutch social media platform Hyves has come under fire after an investigation revealed that it relies heavily on U.S. tech software, directly contradicting the promises made by its marketing team.

On Tuesday, parent company Mediahuis and De Telegraaf relaunched Hyves. They described it as a safe, European alternative meant to counter the addictive U.S. based platforms. However, investigative journalists from Follow the Money (FTM) have now reported that the platform is deeply intertwined with U.S. tech infrastructure.

During the highly publicized launch, which saw a staggering 250,000 sign-ups in the first 48 hours, executives claimed the platform was built entirely on European software "for safety and certainty."

While Hyves does host its main databases on European soil via the French cloud hosting company Scaleway, the FTM report stated that important background operations are entirely dependent on American providers.

The user sign-in page relies heavily on software from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and FusionAuth, which is an American identity management system. In addition, the system communication, password resets, and welcome emails are processed through Mailgun, a Texas-based company. The platform’s default web typography and fonts are loaded directly from Google Fonts.

In response to the report, Mediahuis altered its framing. While acknowledging the integration of global tools, a spokesperson argued to BNR Nieuwsradio that the platform remains "in spirit, completely European" because the core consumer data remains legally bound to European servers and GDPR frameworks.