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Mullvad is apparently the main financier of a Swedish far-right party (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 weeks ago by Rindogang@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8915892

(original article in Swedish that reported this)

Posting this because I hadn't heard about it before and I'm probably not the only Mullvad user here, so might as well.

I'm not Swedish, but going off NATOpedia, it seems like the party is basically reinventing fascism from first principles:

The party claims to stand for a "class-conscious populism" which according to party leader Markus Allard takes inspiration from marxist ideology and unites the "productive" classes of society against the "Transferiat", with the "Transferiat" being a term coined by Allard to describe the classes of society that lives off transfers that are a net negative for society such as those who, despite having an ability to work, live off social welfare benefits, as well as those who work "made-up services"[...]

The party differs from modern day left-wing parties by seeing the working class as co-dependent with people working in enterprise and business and instead sees the classes that "live off transfers", as specified, as a large economic net-negative and an obstacle for a functional society.

visible-disgust Their ideology is nonsense fake-marxist revisionism to redirect anger at capitalism and turn it against immigrants and people who need social welfare (though they do back some generally left oriented social policies, their main thing appears to be racism)

Even if you're comfortable with funding this, it still begs the question of just how trustworthy Mullvad actually is.

I guess this still beats any of the dozens of Israeli VPNs that definitely spy on you, but it's not great emilie-shrug

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[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 144 points 3 weeks ago (50 children)

This isn't good. It's also not entirely correct. Mullvad isn't financing this party directly. One of the owners took his money he made from the company and donated it to the loonies. He could've bought crypto with it, spent it in blow maybe, but he didn't. "Mullvad is financing this party" is not correct. "Your Mullvad fees may have ended up indirectly financing this party" is correct and an ongoing concern. So is their tepid response to the story breaking. I would still advise caution, hammer them with public outrage pressure on the socials, and hope they get rid of the loonie party donor before you bankrupt an otherwise serviceable VPN provider. If that guy is still there in a couple of months, by all means leave.

There is no shortage of c@<%s in the tech sector.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 44 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I mean, it doesn't really matter who actively takes the stance or not. The only question that matters is where the money you spend ends up, and whether you want it to end up there. If you don't want your money to end up in the hands of a far right party, you probably don't want to pay the company that pays the guy who pays a far right party.

Mullvad may say it doesn't support his views, but the main form of support is financial backing, and his own company is obviously going to pay him, so it does support him, regardless of whether or not it wants to take that stance. If you give the company money, then you're supporting it, allowing it to support him, regardless of whether or not you want to.

It's like Harry Potter; even if no corporate announcement is ever going to be made to agree with JK Rowling's anti-trans beliefs, your money spent on merchandise for the franchise still ends up in her hands, and is subsequently moved into the hands of the anti-trans organizations she supports.

[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 28 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You may be as outraged as you want. I just pointed out that Mullvad didn't do anything (to their detriment, at this point) like the title of the post suggested. That's misrepresenting the facts. If you feel like that distinction (a company endorsement vs. a private donation) doesn't make a difference, that's fine. I get that. I left Proton when their CEO was praising the regime of 47 for tech regulation. I just believe we should be mad for the right reasons. Facts are good.

It's been pointed out here in the thread that the majority of the donation to the horseshoe loonie party may in fact have come from other income streams, as Mullvad doesn't pay an awful lot. I don't know if that's true but that would put another spin on the story as well.

There is no shortage of c@>=s in the author community either. Let's not mention her name again. She's probably a lot richer and therefore a lot more impactful with her magic money than this mad meatball. In my estimation, a dollar spent in the famous magician universe will have a lot more negative impact on the trans community than a comparable amount of kronor at Mullvad for immigrants to Sweden. The bigger threat there are probably the Sweden Democrats and they're already in parliament as the second largest fraction.

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[–] psycotica0@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I don't care about Mullvad, but this is an interesting philosophical question. How far does that chain of money carry responsibility? Like, what if you donate to a hospital, and a nurse at the hospital uses their wages to buy bread, and the owner of the bread factory is problematic?

Definitely some fraction of my donation went to the bread factory owner's politics, but is it my responsibility? Should I withhold donations to the hospital until they've pressured the nurse to buy a different brand of bread, or let them go?

Definitely the bread factory owner has a bunch of money, and money is power, and that money was given by customers in exchange for bread, so at some point if we want their power to diminish steps must be taken. But is the hospital donor's money the right lever for that? Does it outweigh the benefits?

What if the bread factory's owner is fine, but has a worker who spends their money on a problematic cause. Is it still the hospital donor's responsibility?

[–] obelisk_complex@piefed.ca 9 points 3 weeks ago

This is just one step, though. Money to Mullvad goes in part to the cofounder who is a racist piece of shit.

But to your question, I think the "dilution" question has a different answer for everyone. Have you seen "The Good Place"? Philosophy is the major theme and this is one of the major philosophical questions they deal with. Great show, recommended if it's unfamiliar to you.

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[–] mathemachristian@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They won't get rid of him if there is no threat of bankruptcy... "Lets not jump into action maybe they'll do the right thing" is not a good plan

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They can force him out as CEO, that can do nothing about his co-ownership though.

[–] mathemachristian@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago

But that's even less reason to give them money, if he is a co-owner part of the profit directly funds fascism. It's not just about funding the parties, but having mullvad as the defacto gold standard, continuing to do business with them gives fascists co-ownership over parts of privacy-critical infrastructure.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

"Your Mullvad fees may have ended up indirectly financing this party" is correct and an ongoing concern.

Is it really "may have"? Seems pretty clear that they have.

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[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

Yeah, but his donation was something like 72% of the donations to that party by money given. That’s not just a donation; that’s him funding his own private far-right party. And if he wants his own far-right party, it’s probably not just for looks.

This guy co-owns Mullvad. That all Mullvad is doing about it is wringing their hands and saying ‘oh, but it’s his money, there’s nothing we can do’ is, quite frankly, disgusting. It’s his money that he got from your company, in large enough quantities he can go out and buy himself some racists like Phil Knight buying himself a fucking basketball team.

If a lower-level employee makes some shit-ass racist comment on their own time, they tend to get canned immediately. Yet all this asshole gets is Mullvad shaking their heads and saying ‘well, it doesn’t align with our values, but what you gonna do?’ Bullshit.

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[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 12 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Berntsson apparently gets most of his income from other companies that he owns (in investments), with Mullvad not being run primarily as a dividend source, so Mullvad’s contribution to the money he donated to the Nazis was probably small. Still, a small amount of shit in the punchbowl is still faecal contamination, though it may be good to keep the facts in mind if weighing up Mullvad vs. Proton vs. Kape and evaluating acceptable compromises (ethical consumption under capitalism and all that).

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[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

Here's the fix for you: "Giving your money to Mullvad is like drinking at a Nazi bar. The bar's great, but it's full of Nazis".

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 33 points 3 weeks ago

Be CEO of privacy company

Donate $500k to a right wing party publicly

[–] TheKaul@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Clickbait title. It's one of the coowners who has donated his personal funds to this party. The other owner and other members of the company disapprove of the decision.

[–] willington@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

So is the nazi coowner getting ousted soon?

Right now we're at "Mullvad is part nazi, nazi adjacent, nazi lite, moderately fascist, feudalism-curious" stage.

[–] mursejoy@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

A dinner table with one Nazi amongst five friends just makes a table of five Nazi.

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[–] SpaceMan9000@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

Guess where part of your money is going to...

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 21 points 3 weeks ago

Even bigger yikes.

[–] traxex@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Insane amount of Nazi sympathizers in this thread. “Aw but poor baby is just the CEO!! It’s not his fault he’s a Nazi! Let him do what he wants!” Freaks.

[–] mathemachristian@lemmy.ml 18 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

As far as I’m concerned, ‘liberal’ is the most meaningless word in the dictionary. History has shown me that as long as some white middle-class people can live high on the hog, take vacations to Europe, send their children to private schools, and reap the benefits of their white skin privilege, then they are ‘liberal’. But when times get hard and money gets tight, they pull off that liberal mask and you think you’re talking to Adolf Hitler. They feel sorry for the so-called underprivileged just as long as they can maintain their own privileges.

Assata Shakur

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[–] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 20 points 3 weeks ago

Although this was a private donation and not Mullvad as a company, it's still bad. I've been a Mullvad user for a few years now and I dislike the idea that some of the money I've paid to them, no matter how little overall, might have been used to support a political party that pushes for "remigration".

I may have very indirectly helped finance a fascist party, and I'm not okay with that. I'd like Mullvad to take steps to ensure that this can't happen again. Until then, I can't be sure where my money will end up.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Mullvad

Reverse credit card charge

Yeah... About that....

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[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Title is incorrect, it's not Mullvad donating the money but one of the owners.

[–] HereIAm@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This is true, but it a co-founder with 50% ownership. Musk has like a 15% ownership in Tesla, yet they are the modern day Nazi car. Surely if half the ownership of a company supports fascists that kind of makes it a racist company.

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[–] blueworld@piefed.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696800

Hi,

Mullvad has two owners, founders, and CEOs - Daniel Berntsson, and me, Fredrik Strömberg. All posts I've seen yesterday and today, including the newspaper articles, talk about Mullvad as if Daniel is the single owner, founder and CEO. It should be obvious that Daniel's private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad's values or mission.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns you're welcome to comment on this thread, or email our customer support.

See below for the response you'll get from support:

Mullvad is a political company. We fight for freedom of speech, freedom of information and the right to privacy. These are firmly held values of the founders of Mullvad.

Mullvad protects the right for people to express things we don't agree with. We protect the right of everyone to access views we don't agree with.

We also live these values by being tolerant in our daily work. Everyone is welcome to collaborate with Mullvad if they share these narrow core values. As employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, lobbyists, campaign partners or whatever it might be. No matter what their other opinions are and no matter whether the founders or anyone else in Mullvad dislike them. The founders themselves fundamentally disagree on several important issues.

This is what allows us to advance our common causes. Being in a tolerant and intellectually open environment is also liberating and promotes truth seeking.

The more people do this, the better a place the world will be.

It should be obvious that Daniel's private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad's values or mission, in the same way that someone's opinions on animal rights, taxes or public healthcare policy isn't.

That said, if you no longer want to be a Mullvad customer for philosophical reasons, we think it's important to honor that. In that case, reach out to support.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago (16 children)

scummy af with this deflection. as if anyone would want the money they paid for a service funneled to bad actors regardless of who is doing it..

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[–] TheFermentalist@reddthat.com 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don’t tolerate the intolerant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

Berntsson hides his fascist tendencies behind a thin veneer of free speech.

Strömberg obviously knows his bedmate and tolerates his tendencies.

Fuck them both. Delete Mullvad (which I used until very recently)

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[–] sp3ctre@feddit.org 13 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

It's pretty easy in my opinion. We see, that right wing shit spreads around the world.

My consequences will be: Any company supporting this shit (even indirectly) will not be paid with my money in the future.

Too bad my subscription for a year has been paid a few weeks ago....

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[–] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

So.. Is there any VPN provider without controversy?

I think Mullvad was the last one I knew of.

They're either lying about logging, lying about backdoors, or apparently Nazis?

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[–] Mikina@programming.dev 12 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

That is a really difficult situation to be in, and I don't envy them. I'm struggling with coming up with a solution to this, when one of your co-founders, that you basically can't force out if I understand it correctly, is using his own money, he made from the company, but it's still his own, to go against your mission.

If they can't convince him to not do that, there's not much they can do.

I really like Mullvad, it's the only VPN that I feel kind of safe abiut and trust them, but if a part of my money goes directly to fund extremistic parties, then I simply won't do that and will be asking for a refund. I really hope they figure something out.

But Mullvad could also react a little better, by emphasizing that they would remove him if they could, and that they are working on a solution. Because it kind of isn't their fault, and it sucks to be in a position like this. Currently it's like Tesla or SpaceX saying that they don't agree with Musk's values, and that he's spending his own money they have no control over, as if that was an argument why it's fiine to buy Tesla or invest into SpaceX.

But unsubscribing from Mullvad is the best thing we can do now, hopefully the co-founder loosing his income will make him reconsider the PR of his personal spendings, and the dropping number will force him to reconsider.

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[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I can't keep track of all the assholes. Going to need an asshole tracker soon.

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[–] SupremeDonut@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 weeks ago

Consumers are nothing but fish in a barrel these days

[–] sorter_plainview@lemmy.today 11 points 3 weeks ago

Mullvad issued a response. Which IMO is shitty.

Source

Statement from MullvadMullvad is a political company. We fight for freedom of speech, freedom of information and the right to privacy. These are firmly held values of the founders of Mullvad.

Mullvad protects the right for people to express things we don't agree with. We protect the right of everyone to access views we don't agree with.

We also live these values by being tolerant in our daily work. Everyone is welcome to collaborate with Mullvad if they share these narrow core values. As employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, lobbyists, campaign partners or whatever it might be. No matter what their other opinions are and no matter whether the founders or anyone else in Mullvad dislike them. The founders themselves fundamentally disagree on several important issues.

This is what allows us to advance our common causes. Being in a tolerant and intellectually open environment is also liberating and promotes truth seeking.

The more people do this, the better a place the world will be.

It should be obvious that Daniel's private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad's values or mission, in the same way that someone's opinions on animal rights, taxes or public healthcare policy isn't.

That said, if you no longer want to be a Mullvad customer for philosophical reasons, we think it's important to honor that, and will gladly refund you.

[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I would love to take my money elsewhere, but... Where? Everywhere else is just as bad or worse. Half the VPN's are owner by one Israeli billionaire. I'm running out of options here.

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[–] AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

That ideology sounds wild lol. Almost literal "national - socialism"?

The issue is rich people using undemocratic power to fund things like this. Which ironically sounds exactly like the “Transferiat” siphoning money and power from VPN users to funnel it into unwanted, fringe channels.

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