> I couldn’t find any record of use of niksen in the Dutch language before the late 2010s.

This feel wrong to me, the concept is definitely older. It just went by nietsen instead of niksen, which is (or was) more grammatically correct/formal as niks is an informal/spoken version of niets.

Here is an example [1] from 2006 with nietsen, defined as to do nothing on a grammar forum. And before 2008 [2] as “not doing anything”. Even a use from 1997 [3].

[1] https://www.dutchgrammar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627 [2] https://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Verbs.Ot04 [3] https://ronald-giphart.nl/vrouwen-zijn-de-baas/