A Dutchman known to have fathered 550 children worldwide, and who featured in a television documentary, is being taken to court to stop him from trying to contact his sperm-donated offspring.

One of the mothers and the donor children’s organisation Stichting Donorkind want Jonathan Jacob Meijer to stop attempting to reach out to his offspring and influencing them via his YouTube channel.

The case will be heard on January 28 by the same court that, in 2023, ordered him to stop donating sperm or face a fine of €100,000 per infringement.

“He has to keep away; that is what was agreed,” mother Natalie Dijkdrenth, who initiated the legal action, told the Volkskrant. “Jonathan is presenting himself as some sort of uncle, but he is really acting as a parent from a distance. He is trying to have a role in our family.”

Dijkdrenth, who is supported by other donor mothers, said she fears Meijer is trying to influence her son and other donor children.

“He is advising them to look for a partner who looks like them and thinks the way they do. He dismisses certain parenting styles and promotes large families,” she said. “Some children are extremely open to influence because of their age. As parents, we try to do our best, but as a donor, he has a certain attraction for them.”

Meijer and his lawyer, Kasper Ripken, declined to answer questions from the Volkskrant about the case.

In some of the YouTube videos, Meijer talks about “bully mums” and accuses them of bad parenting. He has also published photos of parents and their names – although these were taken down after he was served with court papers.

Last year, Meijer was the subject of a Netflix documentary The Man With 1000 Kids and has pledged to go to court to have it removed from the platform.

Under Dutch rules, fertility clinics have a limit of 25 children per donor. However, Meijer was able to circumvent the guidelines by approaching at least 11 different clinics in the Netherlands separately. He also donated to the Danish sperm bank Cryos, which sends sperm to private clients and has no maximum limit.