Mediahuis Relaunches Hyves in an Algorithm-Free Bet

Belgian media group Mediahuis relaunched the Dutch social network Hyves on Tuesday, exactly 22 years after its founding — reviving a platform that once connected nearly every online Dutch person before it was swept aside by Facebook. The new Hyves, live as both a website and an app, is pitched as an “algorithm-free” alternative to the endless, video-driven feeds of global platforms, and within hours of going live it had recorded “thousands of registrations,” according to RTL Nieuws.

A Deliberate Throwback

The relaunch is built on nostalgia with a modern twist. Familiar features return: ‘krabbels’ (wall posts), glitter stickers, respect-giving, friends lists, Hyves groups and the platform’s iconic dancing banana emoji. But unlike the social media of the past decade, the new Hyves uses a chronological timeline rather than an algorithm-curated feed, offers no vertical video feed, and does not allow users to upload videos at all — only photos and text, as Want.nl reported.

Mediahuis also chose what it describes as a European technical architecture: hosting takes place within Europe and user data is not shared with third parties, a spokesperson told VRT NWS. The app and website were built together with partner Apadmi, a UK-based digital product agency. Advertisements will appear on the platform, though the full business model remains unclear.

Private messaging — ‘privéberichten’ — will only arrive in a later version, a limitation noted by Spreekbuis. There are no current plans to launch Hyves in Belgium, Mediahuis said.

From Dominance to Shutdown

Hyves was founded on 22 September 2004 by Raymond Spanjar, Koen Kam and Floris Rost van Tonningen, and became one of the first mass social networks in the Netherlands. At its peak around 2010, it had roughly 10 million accounts and was, for a time, the country’s most-visited website, according to Wikipedia’s Hyves entry.

In November 2010, Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG) acquired Hyves for about €44 million. The bet soured quickly: Facebook overtook Hyves in the Netherlands in August 2011, and after a significant loss in 2012, TMG announced a €36 million goodwill write-down in March 2013. On 2 December 2013, Hyves shut down as a social network and continued only as the gaming portal Hyves Games. Its Belgian counterpart, Netlog, followed a year later.

Scepticism From the Industry

Lorenz Bogaert, a co-founder of Netlog, is openly doubtful that a revival can work. “Most attempts to revive social networks have so far not succeeded,” he told VRT NWS, pointing to the failed relaunch of the British platform Bebo. Bogaert revealed he had explored buying Netlog back after selling it to Tinder’s parent company — without success.

His deeper critique concerns the decision to strip out algorithmic curation. “I think we lost to Facebook on that front back then. Your own content is barely shared anymore. Algorithms are addictive and the industry builds on that. Set your timeline to chronological and you’ll notice the content becomes pitiful,” he said.

Media analyst and ‘Verdwenen Merken’ author Richard Otto frames the challenge differently. “Hyves’ real competitor is therefore not Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, but an empty timeline where hardly anyone posts anything,” he wrote in Spreekbuis. Registrations do not equal sustained use: “not the first registration figures, but how many people still use Hyves after three months.” He noted that BeReal, Google+ and Clubhouse all drew enormous launch interest before failing to hold users.

The Network-Effect Problem

That is the core structural obstacle. Social networks derive their value from the people already on them — friends, family, media and influencers — and those people overwhelmingly remain on Big Tech platforms. Mediahuis’ counter is reach: as owner of De Telegraaf and numerous national and regional titles, it can promote Hyves at a scale few Dutch startups could match.

But that reach skews older. The average De Telegraaf reader is about 50, Otto noted, suggesting Hyves may excel at re-attracting former users while struggling to bind a new generation — making it, at best, a Dutch Facebook rather than an Instagram or TikTok rival. A Newcom survey of 2,000 Dutch people found roughly 60% said they would likely or definitely try a new Hyves, but Otto cautioned that “trying” is the most dangerous word in social media.

Otto also questioned the product’s maturity at launch, describing the 2026 version as “Spartan” — rougher than the original — and comparing the absence of private messages to launching a phone without WhatsApp.

Nostalgia as a Business Strategy

Mediahuis is not alone in betting on a defunct brand. In August 2026, the owners of Myspace signalled plans to revive that platform, a move VRT described as “very difficult” in terms of recapturing the pioneer feeling.

The revival also taps a growing public debate about privacy, digital sovereignty, addictive algorithms and dependence on US and Chinese technology companies — concerns that barely existed during Hyves’ first life. European hosting and a no-data-sharing pledge position the platform squarely within that conversation.

To recapture the spirit, Mediahuis has recruited radio DJ Barry Paf, 47, as the new face of photo-less profiles — the role once held by Jan Paparazzi (Jan Zwart), whose red clown nose is retained. “I am very proud to have been asked to take over Jan Paparazzi’s red clown nose,” Paf said, adding that he was glad the krabbels, GIFs and glitter stickers were being restored.

What to Watch

The decisive metric is not launch-day registrations but retention — how many of those thousands of curious sign-ups are still posting after three months. If Mediahuis can convert its substantial media reach into habitual daily use, Hyves may carve out a durable niche as a quieter, ad-supported social space for older Dutch users. If it cannot, it risks joining the long list of revivals that flickered brightly and faded.

Either way, the relaunch raises a larger question that outlasts any single platform: as Dutch and Flemish media increasingly hold older audiences while YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat keep younger ones, who ultimately controls Europe’s digital public square?