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.
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.
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
Be CEO of privacy company
Donate $500k to a right wing party publicly
Idc
Consumers are nothing but fish in a barrel these days
Title is incorrect, it’s not Mullvad donating the money but one of the owners.
I wonder if people will do this for my business. “It’s not the business! It’s the owner!” (The owner is the business…) I could get away with a ton of shit.
How many owners does your business have?
Mullvad has more than one.
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.
This post is blatant disinformation.
They even released a statement regarding this.
Where does he get the money he donates?
He gets his money from multiple sources apparently, mullvad obviously being one of those sources.
You guys are gonna lose your shit when you find out where your tax dollars are winding up… Or your phone purchase dollars… Or your electricity bill dollars…
Are you alive and spending? If the answer is yes, congratulations you cause pain and suffering.
Some of us try to make conscientious choices though, we do not assume that every dollar that flows through our hands doesn’t have blood on it, but we make choices based on the information we find.
Your ‘argument’ while accurate, is also encouraging apathy.
What’s the difference in apathy and inaction?
Nothing.
In reality nothing
I was refunded, I was not apathetic, I make conscientious choices based on the information I am able to obtain.
‘If in doubt, find out, or go without’
I’m never going to assume I know everything, or that everything is static, but I approach corporations, governments, social media, humanity, cynically… for good reason.
Yet you participate in society. Curious.
Yeah this is the type of response I expected. An unserious meme potshot because that truth is too uncomfortable.
Yet you’re still participating in this thread. Curious.
My phone company is evil, sure. And individual consumer choice has limited utility in a world where all the phone companies are evil, which is why consumers should get organized.
But if I find out that my evil phone company is the primary financier of my or another country’s most prominent Nazi party that’s advocating for Nazi policies, I’m switching to the other evil phone company. Not a difficult decision?
They’re all evil, bud. That’s my point. You’re causing harm to someone somewhere with the things you spend your money on. Folks can downvote all they want, but what I’m saying is true. Doing the least damage isn’t doing no damage.
Try reading my comment again.
chill. I’m definitely taking your word for it /s. If everything I don’t agree with is fascism, well that makes it easy huh?
Yeah, we get it, you love Nazis.
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.
I sympathize, but. The paradox of tolerance is at play here. We cannot tolerate the intolerant actions from this CEO.
If the rest of the company wants to project an open/free and honest stance. They must root out and remove all intolerance.
Until then, I will not use this company.
That is why I chose the refund route, hopefully enough people do that and it applies pressure that = change (him leaving the company).
Where does he get the money he donates?
From his job? Working for an employer who cannot tell him how to spend his own money.
Who does he work “for”? He’s a co-owner/founder according to most of the comments in her
Guess where part of your money is going to…
That still does not equal to “mullvad finances a political party.”
72% of the party’s funding…also more than 27x their entire previous years funding…what would constitute financing the party?
It’s a founder who owns 50% of the company…he holds majority sway. He directs the company. Elon only owns 15% of Tesla for reference.
According to data collected by DonationWatch, 2025 was the most lucrative year in the party’s history, netting a total of 5.58 million SEK. For comparison, the party received just 202,000 SEK in total donations throughout 2024.
The key differences are (1) whose money it is, (2) whose name/role is being used, (3) how the donation is legally treated, and (4) how it’s perceived and disclosed.
1) Whose money is used (entity vs individual)
- Company donation: Money comes from the business’s funds. The donor is typically the company/organization (a legal entity).
- Personal donation by the owner/executive: Money comes from the individual’s personal funds. The donor is the person (you/owner) as an individual.
2) Who is the legal “donor” and how it’s reported
- Company donation: Usually reported under the company’s name and governed by rules for political giving by organizations (often with tighter restrictions for corporate entities depending on jurisdiction and whether the company is considered a “corporation,” “business entity,” or “nonprofit/charity,” etc.).
- Personal donation: Reported under the individual’s name and governed by rules for individuals’ giving (often different limits and procedural requirements).
3) Limits and eligibility can differ
In many places, rules differ because:
- Some jurisdictions prohibit or restrict political contributions from corporations (or only allow certain types like PACs/treasuries with specific structures).
- Individuals may be subject to different caps and allowances. So even if the “same person” is effectively involved, the legal analysis often depends on whether the donor is the entity or the individual.
4) Indirect control and “straw donor” risk
If an owner routes company money through a person, it can trigger enforcement concerns:
- Proper personal donation: clearly uses personal funds with no reimbursement, no accounting backflow, and no use of company resources to fund it.
- Improper arrangement: if the company pays, later reimburses, “gifts” funds, provides unusual benefits, or otherwise makes it economically equivalent to a company contribution, regulators may treat it as effectively a corporate contribution. (That’s why compliance usually focuses heavily on source of funds and documentation.)
5) Corporate governance and ethics/perception
Even where allowed, the optics can differ:
- Company donation: may be viewed as the company’s stance, affecting employees, customers, and shareholders.
- Owner personal donation: is more clearly the individual’s political view, though people may still infer alignment with the company—especially if the owner is highly visible.
6) Practical compliance and internal controls
- Company donation: typically requires board/authorized-officer approval, corporate bookkeeping, and ensuring the donation is permitted for that type of entity.
- Personal donation: still needs clean records showing it’s personal money, and (in some systems) proper disclosure so it can’t be misconstrued as corporate-funded.
Did you really asked a LLM to write an argument for you?
I saw it fitting the argument. It’s telling that the LLM understands the difference and that person doesn’t.
Great way to compromise your side of the argument.
You were arguing with someone who was deliberately full of shit, and you countered with ai… daft
Yeah because is that how LLM works they “understands” things…
Owner personal donation: is more clearly the individual’s political view, though people may still infer alignment with the company—especially if the owner is highly visible.
Dumbass, you conceded the argument because you didn’t use your own brain to make it.
Haha. You saw a tiny straw that can somewhat be interpreted to you liking and ignored everything else.
God, what are you, a shill? You really do have no brain.
Just because you attempt to call something a strawman and downplay its importance doesn’t make it true. We live in objective reality you rightwing numbnut.
The crux of this entire argument is that the owner’s political ideology and devisions can be interpreted as synonymous with the company, given his control and that a significant portion of Mullvad’s profit will go into his pocket.
Here, let me translate that for you:
That’s not a strawman, it’s the main throughline of the entire argument.
If you buy most products, chances are some portion of it is going to a Nazi sympathizer.
Once you get confirmation of this you have a choice. Free market and all that
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.
He owns half the company so I’m not sure if he can be ousted.
Hopefully, but it may have to be his own choice, Mullvad might have no way of removing him.
Hopefully he leaves, not sure if that is possible/likely though
Right now we are at some people are genuine, some people are in denial, some people are apathetic, some people are clearly very right wing, and some people are deliberately posting clickbait and manipulative rubbish.
A dinner table with one Nazi amongst five friends just makes a table of five Nazi.
I think the saying goes the other way around. Sit at a table with 5 Nazis, now there’s 6 Nazis. A table with 1 Nazi is just an outlier and an embarrassment. A laughing stock.
True but with enough backlash, he might be convinced to leave.
Keep giving corporations your money, what could possibly go wrong.
Privacy is not something that neatly aligns with the left-right spectrum.
I’m very confused by what you mean with this. It’s like saying human basic needs doesn’t aligns with left-right spectrum, like no shit!
Far right needs to track their targets. The nazi had IBM census machines to better identify jews, and right now, Palantir fucking exists, and its founder is well aligned on left-right.
Your headline is misleading.
One of the founders (and co-ceo) of Mullvad made a substantial donation to an unhinged political party. Mullvad did not, and Mullvad claim to be against it.
This has been all over mastodon for days.
Mullvad has not claimed to be against it. Mullvad has pretty much said “if you don’t like free speach, we’re sorry you feel that way”.
Their statement reads
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.
They’re pretty clearly saying that they as a company have no part in this political support.
True. But they did not say that they are _against_ the donation.
The original comment should simply be reworded to “and Mullvad says it has nothing to do with the donation and wasn’t aware of it” or something like that. Remove “
claim to be against”.They don’t plainly say against it no, but they’re still clearly distancing themselves from it. It’s not as good as outright denouncing it, but much better than staying silent.
Absolutely. IDK why me or you are getting downvotes tho. Did they claim to be agai st as the original commenter said? No. Did they distance themselves and clearly separate themselves? Yes.
“It should be obvious that Daniel’s private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad’s values or mission.”
It isn’t obvious though because it’s the fucking cofounder that’s doing it and they keep misrepresenting it as a speech issue. It isn’t some random employee, it’s the people who invented and make the decisions for the service, and it’s a massive amount of money as well
Nothing is obvious for multiple reasons, one of them is that people are deliberately trying to manipulate this to be ‘Mullvad is the nazi party’
The headline of the thread we are commenting on is pure trash.
I requested and received my refund, I hope many others are doing the same with the aim of pressuring his removal from the company
The headline isn’t trash, it’s accurate. If Mullvad didn’t exist, the majority of the party’s funding wouldn’t exist.
“Mullvad is apparently the main financier of a Swedish far-right party”
you are dodgy
You’re moving the goalposts. Claiming to be against it and saying they had nothing to do with it aren’t the same thing.
Their response quoted here was too subtle, but you know it is pr for a very serious issue for the company.
“not part of Mullvad’s values” ,perhaps we interpret this differently because we are different people. If something is not part of my values, I am against it, because I am value based, how I interact with society is completely defined by my values.
For all I know you are corn chip based, maybe even a corn chip cooked in palm oil, using child labour, purchased from amazon, and delivered by ubereats.
If they wanted you to think his actions were against their values, they would have said “against”. The fact that it’s a company owner and CEO, means that the company values and the owner’s values are the same, whether they publicly state it or not. That’s why they’ve made such a fence-sitting PR statement. Even when they’re trying to downplay the link between the company values and the owner’s values, they don’t commit because the owner’s values are the company’s values.
But I need to be angry against something and isolate myself in a corner on society where everything is evil but me!
It has been here on Lemmy too, several threads on the front page without the misleading title. OP either did that on purpose (them not replying here at all gives that more weight IMO) or they didn’t even try to see if it had been posted and didn’t read anything in the article and posted without caring if the title is ture or not. The post should be removed.
I meant lemmy, I have only just started using both with the aim of dropping reddit and bluesky, and apparently I am confused.
I agree the post should be removed.
I can’t keep track of all the assholes. Going to need an asshole tracker soon.
That would be a fun website. Asshole tracker for Companies & Politicians and others?
Could do an Assholes Wiki and make it community contributions lol
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…
They’ve offered refunds for those who are upset about the owner’s actions. Not condoning anything, but maybe worth getting your money back.
my refund was accepted the same day I requested it, without issue, or argument.
Yeah, I will take a look into that. Thanks!
Mullvad
Reverse credit card charge
Yeah… About that…
You mailed in cash didn’t you
In the past they let you keep CC on file for monthly payments but now they’re prepay only and they delete CC info after 40 days. I think I prepaid for like a year and half before I knew any of this. Mullvad’s obsession with user privacy is completely unparalleled in 2026.
Kinda their best feature
Monero
With this the only European browser is Vivaldi, by its own structure as a cooperative, owned by the employees, quite far from the right. The only thing they sponsor is a local football club in Iceland.
I hope that KDE would improve one day its independent Konqueror browser (KHTML/ Qt engine, ancestor of WebKit and Blink, Linux only), to have some more alternatives in the EU. It works as browser AND file manager, but due to a good improvement very slow nowadays.
Mullvad browser is still mostly maintained by the Tor project and doesn’t phone home, still one of the best choices for a no fingerprint browser even if you use a different vpn for it. Biggest downside imo is it’s not on Android. It’s entirely FOSS and again, no phoning home on an action, so it doesn’t matter what the creator thinks.
My personal use case for tracking is different from others, I mostly want to avoid surveillance capitalism. It’s genuinely a problem for my PTSD, if I talk about my PTSD on a corporate app I’ll get spammed with triggering shit 24/7 because they like to spam you with “solutions” and self help and news for crimes against women like it’s my special interest. Obviously I would love to avoid state surveillance but you’re not getting that from any vpn server domiciled in the west, it’d have to be in a geopolitical enemy of the west e.g. Russia or China or Serbia and most people would not like the latency that involves.
If you cut out buffer bloat it’s easy to forget that everything is only slightly slower, it’s the inconsistency in the latency that makes you really notice. With a base of ~130ms when it doubles for those first couple of packets of every page load you really feel it, as long as it’s smooth, your brain can adjust.
I have it for my whole house and no one notices/complains.
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat https://github.com/lynxthecat/CAKE-autorate
That said, it’s kind of niche then more niche to run it on the VPN too, I wish it were more accessible.
FOSS nowadays is less and less a guarantee, since Google, M$, Amazon and Fakebook are one of the biggest contributers of FOSS (naturally all with their corresponding tracking APIs). Currently the company ethics, transparency and trust are a very important. At least for me, it’s not acceptable when a service is used to sponsor right wing or nazi parties. It’s not direct Mullvad, but their CEO paid by this product. Faschism is advancing in a creepy manner and at least I’m not willing to support it in any way.
PD. TOR was developed by the US army and secret services and they still owned the onion server. The future and free internet will not be the Onion, but I2P and decentralized networks, out of the reach from big brother corps.
I mean doesn’t sound that far off from “he who does not work, neither shall he eat”
In the USSR work is a duty and a matter of honor for every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the principle: “He who does not work, neither shall he eat”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_who_does_not_work%2C_neither_shall_he_eat
That’s a fascist position even if it came wrapped in a pseudo-marxist wrapping.
There’s a world of difference between “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” and withholding basic needs.
I’m just saying that it’s not like it is a position unfamiliar to self-described Marxists since it was brought in by Lenin and was even part of Soviet Union’s constitution.
It seems to me that one of the key reasons that modern Marxists are angry with views extolled by people like this Mullvad guy, is that this notion that undeserving people are lapping up public funds and holding the rest of us back is normally a play straight from the far right playbook.
This not only distracts from the fundamental issue that we’re facing, with a group of undeserving people lapping up all funds, public or otherwise, it also gives fuel to an unjustified claim that was only created to sow seeds of division in the working class.
He’s a fascist. Part of fascism is co-opting Marxist talking points but pinning the blame on other working class people. The reason fascism comes about is due to a worsening life for regular people, leading them to believe the current system is rigged against them. Marxism tells them there is a different way and blames capitalism. Fascism tells them there’s a different way and it’s blame other working class people. Existing capitalists, like Daniel, see the Marxists as a threat to their power and throw their support behind the fascist to maintain power.
Listen to a lot of Trump’s campaign speeches leading up to the 2016 election and it sounds like stuff from the occupy wall st movement, right up until he starts railing against Mexicans. That’s what fascism is.
