19-year-old hands 25,000-signature petition on smoking influencers to Dutch MPs

A 19-year-old from Geertruidenberg has taken a petition against smoking influencers to the Dutch parliament.

Boy Tanis walked into the Tweede Kamer in The Hague on Tuesday 6 October 2026 carrying 25,000 signatures, according to BN DeStem and AD. His reported words: "Ik doe wat ik moet doen" (I am doing what I have to do). The Tweede Kamer's own listing for the day shows a petition titled "Bescherm jongeren tegen rokende influencers" (Protect young people from smoking influencers) handed over at 13:15 in the Statenpassage to the parliamentary committee for Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS).

What the petition asks

Tanis launched the petition in spring. NOS, working with Omroep Brabant, reported on 31 May that he objects to influencers and artists posting images of themselves smoking or vaping, which he believes normalises and glamorises it. He suggests platforms add warnings to smoking content, as they already do for AI-generated and explicit material, and asked the Autoriteit Consument & Markt to set clear rules, including warnings and age limits. He started smoking at 17, quit, and relapsed on holiday after seeing smoking influencers on Instagram.

NOS noted that tobacco advertising is banned in the Netherlands and influencers may not sell or promote tobacco products, but simply appearing smoking in a post is not directly punishable unless it is paid advertising. Omroep Brabant reported on 23 September that the petition had passed 18,000 signatures and that Tanis had won the Rookvrij Prijs 2026 from Clean Air Nederland.

What happens next

The petition goes to the VWS committee. This is a petition, not a court claim. For families who want to understand how harm from social media is handled in law, our guides explain who can claim, how a social media harm claim works, whether you are eligible to claim, and the court cases we report.