[15] However, it underwent an ideological change and adopted increasingly radical policies and messages following the departure of several of its founding members and saw a subsequent decline in support.

[16][17][18][19][20] The FvD was established by Baudet and Henk Otten as a citizens initiative and then a think tank whose main feat was campaigning in the 2016 Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum and against the EU in general.

[22] In September 2016, it converted itself into a political party founded by Baudet, Henk Otten and Rob Rooken and announced its intention to take part in the 2017 general election.

[30][31] On 30 April 2020, Forum for Democracy formed a coalition with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) in the North Brabant province, the first time the party had formally entered into the administration of a regional authority.

In April 2020, HP/De Tijd revealed instances of antisemitism, homophobia and glorification of Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant in online WhatsApp groups associated with FvD's youth wing.

[34] More similar messages were revealed in November by newspaper Het Parool which published an article about extremist comments made by members the party's youth organization.

[35] Baudet also resigned as the party's lead candidate for the 2021 Dutch general election and was temporarily replaced by Lennart van der Linden.

These included Baudet making antisemitic statements and expressing conspiracy theories such as claiming that the COVID-19 lockdowns were concocted by George Soros and lashing out at party colleague Joost Eerdmans.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the party caused controversy and saw another three of its MPs leave after it released a poster on Holocaust Memorial Day comparing lockdown measures with the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

In December 2021, a Dutch court found Baudet guilty of "creating a breeding ground for antisemitism" with his statements and ordered him to delete social media posts comparing COVID policies to the Holocaust or face a fine.

[48] During its early years, the FvD was also described as one of several contemporary conservative-populist parties in the Netherlands that have been inspired by or inherited the mantle of the defunct Pim Fortuyn List.

[49] On its official platform, the FvD declares itself to be a movement rather than a party with a focus on protecting Dutch sovereignty, identity, and cultural and intellectual property.

[50] In a 2019 column for the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, historian and philosopher Jozef Waanders described the FvD at the time as containing various ideological factions with strands of libertarianism and moderate conservatism, including members sympathetic to the ideas of Ayn Rand and Michel Houellebecq.

[64][65] The party is also in favor of the government consisting of apolitical experts in their respective fields ("technocracy"), and top civil servants having to reapply for their positions whenever a new cabinet is formed.

It is critical of modern architecture, calling for both new government buildings to be constructed in a neoclassical style and for city planning that "fits within a historical view."

[68] Although the party has argued for equal treatment of people of different sexual orientations, it calls for the protection of children against what it describes as "woke and LGBT propaganda" and supports prohibiting minors from being in Pride parades and taking hormone therapy.

The FvD's current platform also calls for an end to the promotion of LGBT campaigns by government institutions and for a ban on "transgender propaganda" targeting minors.

[72][73][74] FvD calls for a gradual legalization of soft drugs but also supports reducing the number of cannabis coffee shops within the vicinity of schools.

"[79][80] FvD also states that immigrants who do not wish to integrate should be offered incentives to return to their native country and that whenever possible asylum seekers should be processed off Dutch soil.

[89] In the spring of 2019, the party, endorsing a climate change denialist platform, intensively campaigned against large state investments in renewable energy, leading to a victory in the provincial elections.

"[95] The party's original co-founder Henk Otten has criticised the FvD's stance on Russia and called Baudet a "Manchurian candidate" of Putin.

[102] In March 2024, Baudet and DENK's Stephan van Baarle were the only two parliamentary leaders in the House of Representatives to abstain on supporting a statement against antisemitism.

[103] Baudet has described Israeli actions as "ethnic cleansing" and suggested that Israel was planning to make money by selling new housing developments in the Gaza Strip.

It intended to participate in the June 2024 European Parliament election in Belgium's Dutch-speaking electoral college, but the party did not manage to collect the required amount of signatures.

[119] The FvD has also been criticized for alleged financial and politics ties to Vladimir Putin with Dutch television show Zembla claiming to have unearthed WhatsApp communications between the party and someone Baudet describes as a Kremlin official.

In October 2022, the party's remaining MEP was suspended (and subsequently resigned) from the Identity and Democracy European Parliamentary group after posting messages on Twitter praising Putin and expressing support for Russia in the war.