Amsterdam is joining several other European cities in trying to control what people eat and how they use energy.
The city has passed a measure prohibiting companies from advertising meat and fossil fuels in public.
From CBS News:
Amsterdam, a city known for its tolerance of some drugs and sex work, has become the first capital city in the world to ban meat and fossil fuels from public advertisements. The effort aims to discourage people from spending money on products linked to high carbon emissions.
Since May 1, ads for products including meat, as well as for airlines and for cars that run on gasoline, are no longer allowed in the city, after a legislative initiative from the GreenLeft and Party for the Animals political parties.
"If you spend lots of tax money and have lots of policies trying to manage climate change in Amsterdam, why would you rent out your public walls to exactly the opposite?" said Anneke Veenhoff, a city councillor from GreenLeft.
"If you're trying to get rid of an addiction, it's not very handy to see it everywhere," she said.
The Amsterdam ban also covers ads for cruises and faraway holiday destinations, as well as for beef, chicken, pork and fish products.
In 2022, the Dutch city of Haarlem became the first in the world to announce a ban on most meat advertisements in public spaces. It became law two years later, along with a ban on fossil fuel ads.
Amsterdam just became the first city in the world to ban meat and fossil fuel advertising from public spaces — a disturbing preview of the climate-driven censorship agenda heading our way https://t.co/UuTHfVjNgL next they stop you from getting meat and fossil fuels smh
— Anewthing2 (@Anewthing26392) May 6, 2026
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Critics, including the Dutch Advertisers’ Association, argued that such laws “do not align with fundamental principles of commercial communications and freedom of expression.”
This trend is occurring all over Europe, with cities imposing their own bans on advertisements for meat and fossil fuels. BBC News reported that The Hague, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Stockholm, and Florence have adopted these bans.
Amsterdam bans all public ads for meat and fossil fuels: Awesome. Enjoy your communist life. Suckers! https://t.co/sAXs8ljHyf
— PatriotDogg1 (@Patriotdoggg1) May 5, 2026
Such laws would be highly difficult for eco-authoritarians to pass in the United States because the First Amendment stands in the way. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t trying. Instead of pushing for all out bans on meat and fossil fuel advertisements, they use the court system to accuse companies of making false or misleading claims in their advertisements.
Honolulu filed a lawsuit recently against oil companies, alleging they are hiding climate risks and misinforming their customers on the harm their products allegedly caused. Through legal actions such as these, they seek to limit companies that want to sell their products.
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