Dutch town approves licence for Meta data centre, biggest in Netherlands

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds smartphone with Facebook logo in front of a displayed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta in this illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The town of Zeewolde, 50km east of Amsterdam, on Thursday approved plans by Meta to build the largest data centre in the Netherlands from which Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp can serve users all over Europe.

The facility, which will use 1.38GWh of electricity and cover 166 hectares (410 acres) of farmland, is expected to run on green energy and provide the local economy a boost but has been criticised by some politicians and environmental campaigners.