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Mass sperm donor ordered to remove videos or face €100,000 fine

February 25, 2025
Sperm donor Jonathan Meijer being interviewed by Eva Jinek in September 2024. Photo: AVROTROS

A Dutch man who fathered at least 550 children with donated sperm has been ordered by a court to stop posting videos aimed directly at the children and their parents.

Several parents took Jonathan Jacob Meijer to court to enforce an agreement he made with them not to play an active role in the children’s upbringing. They argued Meijer was trying to influence the children’s lives indirectly by making the films.

On Tuesday a judge in The Hague ordered the 43-year-old to take down any videos in which he directly addresses the children or makes negative comments about their parents, or pay a fine of €10,000 a day, up to a maximum of €100,000.

“Statements in public about these subjects in other ways than via videos are also forbidden,” the judge said. Meijer is not banned from making and posting films that are not directly aimed at the children and their parents.

Meijer was the subject of a Netflix documentary, The Man With 1000 Kids, which claimed he was the natural father of 3,000 children, though he insists the real number is 550.

Last year he was ordered to stop donating or face financial penalties, in a case brought by the child protection charity Stichting Donorkind, because of the high risk of incest.

Dutch fertility clinics have a limit of 25 children per donor, but Meijer was able to get around the rules by contacting 11 different clinics and donating to the Danish sperm bank Cryos.

His YouTube channel includes several videos in which he criticises “bully mums” and criticises their parenting style. He also recommends eating raw pig’s brains, advises women on how to behave like a traditional wife and tells men to find a partner who shares their values.

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