Europe

SWEDISH POLITICS: The Minister of Civil Defense does not take down tweets whose content may have been funded by Russia

If a social media account spreads Russian disinformation – does it give it legitimacy by sharing content from the account further?

No, says Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Minister for Civil Defense. But at the agency the minister is responsible for, the answer sounds different.

"In any case, they are spreading something that a foreign power may intend to spread in order to make us worried," says Mikael Östlund, press officer at the authority.

It was a year ago that Carl-Oskar Bohlin shared a tweet from the American influencer Lauren Southern, known for her right-wing extremist opinion-making. In the original video, there was a warning about how AI is used in influence operations, something the minister passed on to his around 45,000 followers. "The ability and effectiveness of influence operations risk increasing avalanche-like with disruptive technology shifts," wrote Carl-Oskar Bohlin at X.

Now, a US indictment against two Russian government employees shows that the production company Tenet Media, where Lauren Southern is employed, is said to have been secretly financed by the Russian news agency RT. In total, just over SEK 100 million is said to have been transferred from the Russian government employees to the American company. In turn, influencers would push specific issues – such as questioning support for Ukraine – to their millions of followers. On YouTube alone, the videos are said to have received more than 16 million views.

In light of the American indictment, Carl-Oskar Bohlin has been criticized for not checking his sources better. But the Minister of Civil Defense leaves the tweet on X.

"For the simple reason that it is difficult to misunderstand," Bohlin writes to DN.

"Of course, one should refrain from spreading harmful narratives from foreign powers. However, it is a somewhat strange accusation that my warning about deepfakes and manipulated videos would in itself constitute Russian disinformation. With such a threshold, it will be difficult to talk about or warn about the phenomenon at all," the Minister continues.

Carl-Oskar Bohlin is responsible for the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency, MPF. Countering deception and disinformation, including rumours and propaganda, is one of the Authority's main tasks.

When DN reaches press officer Mikael Östlund, he gives general advice on how to think about senders who are known to have both left- and right-wing extremist views, and how to avoid becoming part of influence operations.

"It's about evoking emotions. If you get upset by something you read, you can think about it. Is this someone who wants to upset me? he says.

If you share information from an account, do you give that account legitimacy at the same time?

"In any case, you spread something that may not be true. And which a foreign power intends to spread in Sweden to make us worried. Or to influence public opinion. Or make us distrust information in general even more. I'm not going to say that you're guilty of anything, but you should think about it, so that you don't share things that someone else with an evil intention wants you to share. Is it extra important to double-check what the original source is if you are an influencer or a public figure with a large following?

"Yes, that applies to everyone, but if you have a lot of followers in general, it's more important maybe that you don't share things that you're not sure are true.

Carl-Oskar Bohlin is the minister responsible for your agency and has done exactly what you warn about. How do you see it?

"You have to ask him about that. We do not register what is shared and published in Sweden. Our task is to watch when foreign powers direct information from abroad towards Sweden in order to influence us.

How should one interpret that the minister's message goes against yours, as you just described it to me?

"We give general advice, we don't have any messages of our own. The general advice is that you should know why you are sharing. You should think carefully so that you do not unknowingly become complicit in spreading foreign information.

In an updated version of the tweet, Carl-Oskar Bohlin has written:

"Clarification to avoid active misunderstandings: The purpose of the post is not to draw attention to the sender who is highly controversial, but to demonstrate the tools that this type of actor will use in the future," the minister writes.