Hyves returns with scraps and dancing banana
Mediahuis is relaunching the Dutch social network as a website and app after almost thirteen years.
Hyves is making a comeback on Tuesday, almost thirteen years after the social network stopped operating as a platform for friends. Mediahuis is bringing back familiar features such as scraps, respect and the dancing banana, while also presenting the platform as an alternative to algorithmic feeds.
Mediahuis Nederland is bringing Hyves back to the market, trade publication Spreekbuis reports. The launch coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the network’s founding. The new version is available via a website and an app and is built around features many former users will recognise: personal profiles, friends lists, scraps and the giving of respect.
The return is explicitly more than a collection of old visual trademarks. According to reports on the launch, Hyves wants to display posts chronologically, rather than presenting users with an endless stream assembled by algorithms. Privacy is also given a more prominent place. Users should be able to set who may view their profile and posts.
Mediahuis is thus positioning the platform as a Dutch alternative in a market dominated by American companies. The company points to the debate over data collection, addictive design and the power of large social platforms. According to information from Mediahuis, images appearing on Hyves will be checked automatically using content and image moderation technology.
The original Hyves was founded in 2004 and grew into the largest Dutch social network. At its peak, the platform had almost ten million Dutch users, according to historical reports. In 2013, Hyves stopped operating as a platform for friends after Facebook and other international services had taken over many users. The site then continued as a games platform.
The new service therefore has the same name, but is not a continuation of old accounts. There is no indication that former profiles, scraps or photo archives will automatically return. Nor are public figures yet available on the number of new users, the technical scale of the service or the platform’s source of revenue.
The comeback is therefore testing two ideas at once. Nostalgia may bring people back to a brand that became part of Dutch internet history. At the same time, a new network must attract enough active users to become valuable, while organising moderation, privacy and safety on its own scale. The coming months will show whether users are willing to build a profile again.
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The core of the relaunch has been confirmed by trade publication Spreekbuis and information from Mediahuis. Historical data on the old service were checked with NOS; current user figures have deliberately not been filled in.
- confirmed Mediahuis Nederland is relaunching Hyves on 22 September 2026. — Mentioned in Spreekbuis’s report on the relaunch. source
- confirmed The new version includes scraps, friends lists and the dancing banana, among other features. — Description of the new version in Spreekbuis. source
- confirmed Mediahuis describes automatic image checks and reporting options. — Mediahuis’s own page describes content and image moderation and reporting functions. source
- confirmed The original social network stopped operating as a platform for friends in 2013. — NOS described the end of Hyves as a social network in 2013. source
Editor's note
The relaunch and the main features have been publicly reported. Independent figures on users, revenue, technical operation and the precise relationship with old Hyves data are still unavailable.Sources
- Hyves keert na bijna dertien jaar terug — Spreekbuis
- Child safety standards — Mediahuis Nederland
- Sociaal netwerk Hyves verdwijnt — NOS
More on this in Dutch media
- NU.nl — „hyves mediahuis”
- De Telegraaf — „hyves mediahuis”
- AD — „hyves mediahuis”