More than 6 million voters rejected a planned law that would have granted security services sweeping powers to spy on people's emails and other online data, the Dutch electoral council announced Thursday.

Read more:Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal: What you need to know

Some 13 million were eligible to vote in the referendum, which is non-binding, but Prime Minister Mark Rutte vowed to take the results seriously despite being a proponent of the proposed law. Vice Prime Minister Kajsa Ollongren, however, said the government would take its time to consider the results, the ANP news agency said.

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Fighting terrorism?

The government has stressed that the new regulations would help in the fight against terrorism, but critics say data protection and privacy are being undermined.

The result comes afterCambridge Analytica misused the data of 50 million Facebook usersallegedly to influence elections in the US and the UK.

Turnout stood at 51.5 percent, which was enough to validate the results; 49.4 percent voted down the law, while 46.5 percent were in favor.

Read more:Netherlands: Coalition deal reached after 209 days

The referendum, which started as a citizens' initiative by a group of Amsterdam students, was held on March 21 alongside local elections.

It is likely to be the last of its kind as legislation to repeal the laws under which they can be organized are set to be passed by parliament soon.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook Playboy Playboy Enterprises said it is closing its Facebook pages as the scandal surrounding the social network grows. Playboy said the privacy scandal was the final straw after long having had difficulty posting to the site due to Facebook's strict rules to keep nudity off the platform. Some 25 million people interacted with Playboy's Facebook pages.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind electric car manufacturer Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX, wrote on Twitter he would delete both companies' Facebook accounts. The decision appeared to be spontaneous after Musk wrote he "didn't realize" a Facebook account for SpaceX even existed. The accounts of both companies each had around 2.6 million followers before they were deleted.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook Mozilla The company behind popular web browser Firefox said in a statement that it was "pressing pause" on its Facebook advertising. But it said it would not delete its Facebook account. Instead, the company would stop posting regular updates on the account. "When Facebook takes stronger action in how it shares customer data ... we'll consider returning," it said.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook Commerzbank Commerzbank, one of Germany's largest banks, said it was pausing its Facebook advertising. The head of the company's brand management told German business newspaper "Handelsblatt:" "We're taking a break with our advertising on Facebook. Data protection and maintaining a good brand are important to us." He added that the company would wait and see before it made any further decisions.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton The co-founder of messaging service WhatsApp, Brian Acton, wrote in a March 20 post on Twitter: "It is time. #deletefacebook." Acton became a billionaire after selling WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014. He recently invested in a rival messaging app, Signal, after leaving WhatsApp in 2017. Acton had a history with Facebook before 2014. He unsuccessfully interviewed for a job at the company in 2009.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook Sonos The US-based speaker manufacturer said it was pulling its advertising from Facebook and other social media platforms, including Facebook-owned Instagram. Sonos said recent revelations "raised questions" about whether Facebook had done enough to safeguard user privacy. But it said it would not completely "abandon" Facebook because it was an "incredibly effective" service.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook Dr. Oetker's out then back in The German food corporation let its Twitter followers vote on whether it should delete its Facebook account. "We'll delete our Facebook page for 1,000 retweets," it wrote in a March 21 post. It was quickly retweeted over 1,000 times, leading the company to deactivate its Facebook page. But it reactivated the account a day later, writing on Twitter that it "couldn't be" without Facebook.

The companies and people unfriending Facebook Facebook responds Asked about the decision of some companies to leave the social network, Facebook said: "Most of the businesses we've spoken with this week are pleased with the steps we've outlined to better protect people's data, and they have confidence that we'll respond to these challenges and become a better partner and company as a result." Author: Alexander Pearson



ng/sms (AFP, dpa)

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