134
Mullvad’s founder Daniel Berntsson donates millions to local fascist that supports forced "remigration" of Swedish non-white citizens (www.flamman.se)
submitted 1 week ago by Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
40 comments fedilink hide all child comments
all 41 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 40 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Motherfucker... What is it with VPN providers and fascism? Are there any VPN providers that don't have fascist CEOs (or that don't sing praises about fascists) and have opensource clients?

Proton already has a CEO who likes Trump, so I don't trust it. I know of IVPN and Windscribe which have opensource VPNs. No idea about their bosses political leanings or donations.

Edit: I can't read Swedish, but I ran it through DeepL and it's not naming a source. Donations seem to be public but anonymised.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 27 points 1 week ago

it’s not naming a source.

The Flame emailed Daniel Berntsson and he admitted that the donation was from him. The Flame is a newspaper that's over a hundred years old, I think that makes them somewhat reputable. and if it's not true, then we'll see a statement from Mullvad and probably a lawsuit, don't you agree?

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 17 points 1 week ago

I see. Alright, if he admitted it to them, then that's good enough for me. He might even make a public comment about it.

Means I have to move on from Mullvad.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 12 points 1 week ago

well, I think speaking to a newspaper is a public comment. and judging from the Mullvad subreddit, there's a whole lot of people from Europe who don't think it's a controversial opinion at all. which doesn't really surprise me, considering the recent news from places like the UK with the race riots by white supremacists, fire bombings, and things like the growing popularity of the AfD in Germany.

they're doing the nazi thing again, just this time they're all doing it together. yet they'll still claim they're better than the US somehow, despite having popular political parties that very publicly support ethnic cleansing.

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That's not a public comment. It's on the record, but it's not public. Public would be putting it up on his public blog, writing it on Xitter or other social media, and so on.

Anyway, for now, this is good enough for me to switch. I'm not going to knowingly fund fascist supporters.

[-] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

AirVPN

Mission

About us

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

Interesting... how do people participate in that? Surely there are volunteers providing bandwidth?

[-] dev_null@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

No, the Proton CEO doesn't like Trump. It has been debunked so many times and yet is still repeated...

He liked who was appointed for leading the antitrust division of a US deparment. And yes, the person was appointed by Trump. Later that person was fired by Trump for doing their job well.

[-] ShutUpWesley@piefed.zip 30 points 1 week ago

A constant reminder that a person can be right about one thing and wrong about another.

[-] BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 week ago

And that who ultimately gets your money is important.

[-] AssaultPepper@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Or your vote; really shows the importance of options that reflects the nuance of opinions.

[-] scytale@piefed.zip 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

First, Bitwarden. And now Mullvad. Those were like the only two “good” things left that I use. Great products that are led by not great people. Sigh.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 12 points 1 week ago

for Bitwarden, a much better replacement is Vaultwarden. it's very easy to run yourself, or you can find other servers elsewhere run by people. best part about it is that since every client acts as a full backup, if a server shuts down then you can just transfer your data elsewhere with no issues.

I know someone who runs their own server, which is what I use.

[-] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 week ago

Vaultwarden needs its own client, and soon. BW is absolutely going to stop allowing non-official servers at some point.

[-] myrmidex@belgae.social 11 points 1 week ago

Anyone has any decent anglophone sources on this yet?

[-] leraje@piefed.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 week ago

Wikipedia article on the party he donated to. Started off as a quasi-Marxist, became red fash seems to be the summation.

[-] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 16 points 1 week ago

Immigration and remigration policy quote

Markus Allard initiated heavy debate in 2025 by claiming that Sweden is "the land for/belongs to the Swedes" and that the Örebro party favors a large scale remigration policy. He also criticized the Sweden Democrats for, according to him, allowing too many immigrants into the country under their watch as confidence and supply to the Kristersson cabinet.

In 2026 ÖP party leader Markus Allard sparked controversy on several occasions. In a debate hosted by Studio3 with Liberal member of parliament Martin Melin, Allard asked: "why won't the Liberals push for deporting 100 000 social welfare-Somalis?" and in the same debate said that "Sweden belongs to the Swedes. We have to make sure that we take care of our own damn people and we must deport these damn parasites who sit and live at our expense." [45]

In a podcast segment about immigration and deportations Allard stated his opinion and said that "They will also be forced to leave, even if they are born in Sweden, because they have no natural connection to Sweden. They are not Swedish." [46]

Mass deportation of 100,000's of thousands or millions of people seem pretty clear cut fascism. It looks like technically the donations were made right before those quotes, but I doubt that came out of nowhere suddenly starting in 2025 and if it was, then that's on the CEO to make a point to distance themself from the party and correct their mistake through meaningful actions.

[-] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 14 points 1 week ago

A ""Marxist"" party with fascist policies is a fascist party. Pure Nazbol shit!

[-] Pelicanen@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Markus Allard, and as an extension Örebropartiet, has always clearly been populist. He makes it out to be a matter of "common sense" and "eliminating wasteful spending" (two very common talking points for populists) to afford more important things, like healthcare and elder care, but buried underneath it all there's always been the idea that wasteful spending includes anything related to immigration or providing asylum. He is a racist who just wants to sell his idea to non-racists under the guise of a responsible economic policy.

[-] therealdries@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago

Same ole' Europe.

[-] 0xtero@beehaw.org 9 points 1 week ago

Oh well. Get some money, start kicking down. Is that the model? Rather disappointing, I have to say.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 11 points 1 week ago

keeping the poors at each others throats is the universal feature of the rich and elite. it's how they stay in power. if the people ever united together, then we would be unstoppable and they know it.

[-] redditmademedoit@piefed.zip 5 points 1 week ago

I don’t have an opinion on whether Örebropartiet is fascist or not, honestly that might be giving them too much credit.

The party is really only known nationally for its front figure, Markus Allard – your typical anti establishment loudmouth that mostly attracts people that elsewhere would have been drawn to libertarian parties.

Allard is not politically stringent – he’s previously belonged to Vänsterpartiet (the Left) and his grandfather was a well known parliamentarian of Socialdemokraterna (social democrats). Allard, a self described Marxist, is best known for quasi intellectual rants about a ”transferiat”. Essentially it’s about how working people are leached on, not only by capitalists, but by unemployed, immigrants, civil servants and people in ”bullshit jobs” type of roles.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don’t have an opinion on whether Örebropartiet is fascist or not

if you're espousing racist right-wing policies like remigration, and saying things like "Sweden is for Swedes", and blaming all your troubles on immigrants, then that makes you a fascist. ethnic cleaning is fascist shit. that's what he wants, to ethnically cleanse Sweden. if you "don't have an opinion on that", then you do have an opinion on it, one that supports fascism by sitting back and doing nothing in the face of it.

[-] cecinestpasunecommunication@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Maybe they mean in the same way trump is not himself ideologically fascist, he's just doing it, and the moment he gets a call from mamdani calls him he'll be a (longian) socialist until he leaves the room.

Or not.

[-] rangber@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

Idk man. Is there more concrete source than this? People talk shit all the time.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 18 points 1 week ago

more concrete than a direct admission in an interview with the person in question by an established newspaper that's over a hundred years old?

[-] BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

Lol... surely you can do better than that

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 9 points 1 week ago

I get it. you really like Mullvad. it can be hard to overcome our biases. but your parasocial relationship with a corporation that doesn't know or care you exist isn't my problem to deal with. that's something you need to work through on your own.

[-] BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

I was being sarcastic hoemie.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 6 points 1 week ago

ah, my bad. to be fair, that one was a little subtle.

[-] crazyminner@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

Is this the same company that makes the browser? Mull

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 5 points 1 week ago

no, but they do make a browser. mull was discontinued a couple years ago.

[-] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

"Five million kroner. That's how much money the populist Örebro Party received in 2025 – from a single person. This is shown by the party's income statement, which Flamman has read."

Without a link I guess I'll just trust that the reporter is telling the truth /s

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[-] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

Creditable articles present evidence.

Thanks for the links.

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 10 points 1 week ago

the article probably did not present evidence because political donations are public record in Sweden.

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

I don't see his name there. It just says "private donor" (but I don't speak Swedish).

[-] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 13 points 1 week ago

he's the private donor. The Flame asked him over email and he admitted it. since The Flame is a reputable newspaper that's over a hundred years old, I'll take their word for it.

if it's a lie and he didn't admit that, then I'll gladly admit I was wrong when he files a defamation suit against them.

[-] leraje@piefed.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 week ago

From the article OP linked to:

Behind the giant donation is Daniel Berntsson, founder and co-owner of the internationally successful IT company Mullvad.

“This is a donation from me personally,” he wrote in an email to Flamman.

this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2026
134 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy

5852 readers
90 users here now

Welcome! This is a community for all those who are interested in protecting their privacy.

Rules

PS: Don't be a smartass and try to game the system, we'll know if you're breaking the rules when we see it!

  1. Be civil and no prejudice
  2. Don't promote big-tech software
  3. No apathy and defeatism for privacy (i.e. "They already have my data, why bother?")
  4. No reposting of news that was already posted
  5. No crypto, blockchain, NFTs
  6. No Xitter links (if absolutely necessary, use xcancel)

Related communities:

Some of these are only vaguely related, but great communities.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
otter@lemmy.ca
shaytan@lemmy.dbzer0.com