Follow the Money (FTM) Paywall: How to Read Its Investigations for Free

Follow the Money is the Dutch investigative platform behind some of the most consequential financial and political reporting in the Netherlands, and since 2021 it has published an English edition at ftm.eu aimed at readers across Europe, with a particular focus on Brussels. Its investigations into lobbying, tax avoidance and the gambling industry travel widely, and a link to one usually ends at a membership prompt. FTM has no advertising and is funded by its members, so the paywall is central to how it works. This guide explains what that means and how to read a full FTM investigation.

How the Follow the Money paywall works

FTM uses a membership paywall. Most investigations are marked for members, and a non-member sees the introduction and the first few paragraphs before the article is cut off by an invitation to join. A few pieces are opened to everyone, either because they are part of a public-interest campaign or because a partner outlet has published them too. There is no monthly meter to speak of; the decision is made per article.

The gate is applied in the browser. FTM wants its investigations found by search engines and shared on social media with full previews, so the complete text is delivered in the page, and a script then hides the body from readers who are not signed in. A crawler-style reader that never runs that script receives the whole article. That puts FTM in the same category as The Diplomat and Foreign Policy, and apart from the Dutch daily papers, which enforce their limits on the server. Our explainer on metered versus hard paywalls covers the difference.

Our tests on 30 September 2026 through Skip the Paywall:

• A 3,276-word Follow the Money investigation into Curaçao's secretive online gambling industry, based on a leak, loaded in full, all 122 paragraphs.
• A 1,976-word Follow the Money investigation into how tobacco lobbying blunted EU rules on vaping loaded in full, all 70 paragraphs.
• A 1,049-word Follow the Money story questioning an AI data-centre company's carbon claims loaded in full, all 44 paragraphs.

Read a Follow the Money article in full

• Copy the article link. English-edition links look like ftm.eu/articles/headline-slug; the Dutch edition uses ftm.nl.
• Paste it into the box on the home page and press Read Article.
• The investigation appears in a clean reader view with the headline, byline and body text. Interactive graphics and embedded documents are not carried over, so open the original for those.

Other approaches

• Membership. FTM sells monthly and annual memberships and often runs a trial offer. Membership covers both the Dutch and English editions.
• Free articles. FTM opens selected investigations to everyone, particularly when they are published with partner newsrooms, and its newsletter says which ones are open.
• Partner publications. Many English-edition investigations are co-published with outlets in other countries, where the same reporting may be free to read.
• Libraries. Some Dutch public libraries offer FTM access to card holders; it is rare outside the Netherlands.

How it compares with other European titles

Follow the Money is one of the few continental European titles the reader can open. The big Dutch papers, including NRC, de Volkskrant and De Telegraaf, are not supported, and our tests of French, German and Belgian dailies returned teasers or blocks almost without exception. Among English-language policy titles, The Diplomat and Foreign Policy both load in full. The full list of sites that work is kept up to date.

Subscribe if you read it regularly

FTM exists because its members pay for reporting that takes months and sometimes ends in court. It carries no advertising and takes no money from the subjects it covers. If its investigations matter to you, a membership is cheap for what it funds, and it is the honest way to keep the platform independent.