Mullvad controversy
Could someone fully explain the mullvad controversy. From my knowledge so far it seems like the cofounder donated to an alt right party and it's probably a bad sign for the company. Anything I'm missing?
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shrek_is_love
in reply to SomeOne • • •That's basically it although I don't think it's technically alt-right. More specifically, he donated half a million USD to the Örebro Party
political party in Örebro, Sweden
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)electric_nan
in reply to shrek_is_love • • •like this
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Hubi
in reply to electric_nan • • •like this
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jestho
in reply to electric_nan • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to SomeOne • • •The party isn’t properly alt right in any way that an anglosphere dweller would recognize.
It’s not a bad sign for the company in any way. Remember that mullvad was the vpn of choice for pedophiles distributing csam until it wasn’t.
Mullvads recent statement is also extremely carefully worded to avoid taking what the state would call a political stance. While we may recognize that not condemning the donor is political, what the state considers political is support or detraction from some party or of some speech. If mullvad were to make such a political statement it could be subject to a whole different kind of law.
ProdigalFrog
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •They are nationalist racists trying to cloak themselves with populist leftist ideas. This is the leader of that party:
friatider.se/markus-allard-om-…
... Show more...They are nationalist racists trying to cloak themselves with populist leftist ideas. This is the leader of that party:
friatider.se/markus-allard-om-…
Remember; the Nazi's did the same thing by strategically calling their party the National Socialist German Workers' Party, despite them not being socialist nor a working class party. This was chosen because Socialism was gaining popularity, and thus the Nazi's thought it would help their chances of getting votes and public support.
Markus Allard om andra generationens invandrare: "De ska också ut"
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whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to ProdigalFrog • • •I think you did a good job characterizing the party’s immigration platform, but I don’t think that qualifies as alt right in the way it’s generally understood in the English speaking world.
That’s not to say it’s not fascist or right wing, just that I think unqualified the phrase alt right doesn’t tend to mean what that party bills itself as in addition to its immigration policy and where it seems to fit inside Swedish politics (which I don’t pretend to understand, only to recognize that it doesn’t seem to be called alt right in Swedish sources).
A couple of major differences are the English speaking alt rights strong religious current as compared to orebros explicit secularism, the alt right anti-liberal arts stance (it’s the bastion of cultural Marxism, you see) compared with orebros educational policy stance of encouraging music and arts education, the alt right urge to tear down social programs in general as opposed to orebros general position of building them up.
I wasn’t trying to suggest that oreb
... Show more...I think you did a good job characterizing the party’s immigration platform, but I don’t think that qualifies as alt right in the way it’s generally understood in the English speaking world.
That’s not to say it’s not fascist or right wing, just that I think unqualified the phrase alt right doesn’t tend to mean what that party bills itself as in addition to its immigration policy and where it seems to fit inside Swedish politics (which I don’t pretend to understand, only to recognize that it doesn’t seem to be called alt right in Swedish sources).
A couple of major differences are the English speaking alt rights strong religious current as compared to orebros explicit secularism, the alt right anti-liberal arts stance (it’s the bastion of cultural Marxism, you see) compared with orebros educational policy stance of encouraging music and arts education, the alt right urge to tear down social programs in general as opposed to orebros general position of building them up.
I wasn’t trying to suggest that orebro isn’t right wing but instead that it’s not alt right by any definition. I don’t think it even has a similar origin to the English speaking alt right having split from an existing party.
Again, that’s not to say it isn’t right, just that it’s not alt right.
ProdigalFrog
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to ProdigalFrog • • •I think there’s a real problem with that line of thinking.
Without understanding a persons politics are just vibes.
Also condensing the bloodthirsty futurists who imagine totalizing war of all against all and honestly quaint ethnonationalists who want to have the third reich but without all those pesky wars is pretty clearly a stumble even if you were to recognize that they’re both the enemy of global communism. It’s worth it to recognize that praline ice cream and pickles are wildly different things even if you don’t like either and they both start with the letter “p”.
And that’s what the op asked about. “It seems like it’s this thing, is that correct?” “No, it’s not that thing”. Which would, to your point, make it neither unnecessary nor hair splitting.
orc girly
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to orc girly • • •CrypticCoffee
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •eremophila
in reply to SomeOne • • •One of the co-founders/co-ceo's almost single handedly funded a racist political party en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96re… that wants Sweden to manufacture weapons.
The other co-founder/co-ceo stated he did not agree with it, but also doesn't really care because 'free speech'
Mullvad stated that users who were not happy could apply for refunds. some have, some haven't.
Lemmy, and other social media platforms have multiple threads about this, including very obviously biased threads designed to mislead people into believing it was the company who made the donation, or that there is only one ceo.
Paying mullvad does equal funding that political party.
political party in Örebro, Sweden
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mildseason
in reply to eremophila • • •eremophila
in reply to mildseason • • •nitroemdash
in reply to eremophila • • •
... Show more...Don't see anything particularly racist. And since when domestic weapons
Don't see anything particularly racist. And since when domestic weapons manufacture is the problem?
trevor (any/all)
in reply to nitroemdash • • •eremophila
in reply to nitroemdash • • •I'm sure you can hand select passages about hitler that also suit your stance while making him seem like kermit the frog.
Since when are weapons not a problem?
nitroemdash
in reply to eremophila • • •These are literally the first passages from Wikipedia.
What country doesn't have domestic weapons manufacturing? Is it a problem when US or France do it?
eremophila
in reply to nitroemdash • • •Yes of course it is a problem when the usa, france, russia etc do it, it obviously makes them evil countries. Weapons exist to kill.
The usa is responsible for approximately 42% of the global arms market. 1 country, 42%, clearly not the good guys.
eremophila
in reply to nitroemdash • • •" The party has been variously characterised as left-wing and right-wing, as well as populist, nationalist and conservative."
"Leaving the EU and NATO were on the table for ÖP. Regarding NATO Allard claimed that Sweden cannot trust or rely on NATO and that the country should instead seek to massively increase its weapons production and also become a major arms exporter, arguing it would benefit the Swedish economy"
"The party advocates for remigration policies, strong secularism, and assimilationist policies such as immediate closure of the Islamic charter schools.[70][71]
[72]Markus Allard initiated heavy debate in 2025 by claiming that Sweden is "the land for/belongs to the Swedes"
They also want to remove fuel taxation, they are pro nuclear, and are anti wind turbine.
davel
in reply to SomeOne • • •A cofounder donated to the Örebro Party, which has an eclectic platform. Mostly, progressive liberals of the imperial core are (justifiably) upset about its immigration/“remigration” policies and upset about its anti-NATO policies.
Companies are owned by the bourgeoisie, who are right wing1. So “voting with your dollar” over this is largely performative, because the VPN you switch to will also be bourgeois-owned.
industrialized capitalist countries
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)geneva_convenience
in reply to davel • • •Yet they will still respond to capital pressure in large enough numbers. In a broken system like capitalism that's what holds power. If not you can write off BDS and any other type of boycotts.
davel
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to davel • • •Mullvad didn't condemn the funding and the owner will certainly continue using profits from his company to fund far-right remigration efforts if he specifically chose that party instead of any other generic leftist party.
Also Mullvad is very expensive compared to other VPN's to begin with. And Mullvad's servers have been getting blocked everywhere lately so there's no real reason to use it either. Might as well use AirVPN or the likes. I'm probably switching to Proton for ease of use but i might choose another sooner or later.
whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •Condemning the funding could (I’m not an expert or lawyer) open the company up to a different type of law intended for “terrorism” or “extremism”. I do not know what actually drove the publishing of such a fence riding post on their part but that’s a possible explanation that takes into account the conditions and foresight the company has exercised in the past.
Also as an airvpn user do not use it for security or privacy. It’s a really good piracy vpn just use it for that. If you’re concerned for your safety please consider carefully the consequences of your choices when you register for proton (don’t make a services account, don’t use a recovery email that can be tied to you or at all, pay cash). A lot of the services people hold up as alternatives have ways for the unaware user to accidentally screw it up and end up in a bad situation.
FineCoatMummy
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •Ooo! I didn't know Proton accepted cash payments. But you are right. They do.
My proton is tied to me, b/c I didn't really care and it wasn't important to my threat model. But it's good to know they offer this. I was paying for Mullvad with cash. Since the whole thing has happened with Mullvad, maybe I'll open a cash paid Proton just for the VPN option.
I really wish Proton offered Wireguard tho. It's so much nicer than OpenVPN.
whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to FineCoatMummy • • •How to download WireGuard configuration files | Proton VPN
Proton VPNFineCoatMummy
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •davel
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •So largely performative. With enough pressure, Mullvad might say something negative about a bourgeois party, which won’t do anything.
There’s no reason to think Proton would be any different in this regard. Proton Mail Says It’s “Politically Neutral” While Praising Republican Party
geneva_convenience
in reply to davel • • •They're nowhere comparable. Proton's case is relevant to their business and to VPN's as a whole. Not just doing random private donations to Nazis. As they stated in response to the article:
Also objectively Proton would receive less money because they're a lot cheaper.
CrypticCoffee
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to CrypticCoffee • • •ropatrick
in reply to SomeOne • • •These pop up controversies are interesting (and usually fleeting?).
If we were to examine every place we put our money, we would probably find that some of it ends up contributing to nasty shit.
Buy cheap clothes in a Penneys or US equivalent: sweatshops.
Buy food in large food retailers: exploitation of small farmers and food producers.
Buy painkillers: "Oxy is good for you, we promise..." ---> lots of dead people.
Pay for Mullvad: funding dodgy parties...and so on.
The only way to truly avoid this is to live in a cave and never use money again! Or self host, all the things.
Cease
in reply to ropatrick • • •like this
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ropatrick
in reply to Cease • • •I accept your point but as someone else pointed out, put your money elsewhere and its as likely to end up in a dodgy place is it not? It seems like every day theres a controversy like this about where the money goes.
I dont necessarily hold the view that I was posting, more so putting it up for perspective. If we were to take that approach we would all be driven demented.
Cease
in reply to ropatrick • • •ropatrick
in reply to Cease • • •I know its easy to change, my point is, no matter who we change to, the same could well be happening. Peoples' frustration at finding it hard to know what company to trust, is palpable. One company let's them down, they move to another. That company either doesn't, or does.
I know nothing about airvpn, but you obviously trust them, and others do too I'm sure, until they are splashed across Lemmy for funding X, Y or Z, and then people move again etc.
Defeatist maybe. Is it too controversial to say that maybe we shouldn't get so wound up about this stuff? Pick the company with the lesser of the evils?
People are selective about what they get hyped up about. They will change their VPN from Mullvad, but still buy clothes that are made in sweatshops. Its just interesting to see how people react to certain things.
Postmortal_Pop
in reply to Cease • • •No OC, but personally its the shlog of doing it every day. I moved to mulvad during the proton problem, I moved to proton during the VPN hacks. I moved to VPNs during the ISP leaks. Yeah, changing a VPN is easy but if you compare my life now to 6 months ago the only things that I haven't had to abandon or replace are aldi, Weird Al, and a love for googie architecture. Every musician, every actor, every food product, every author, every hobby, has been tainted by the new horrible news to the point that I can no longer separate art and artist. I'm burnt out. I know I can't support these people but I know I can't keep constantly breaking my routine either. I don't have time to vet every single VPN for their likelihood of supporting fascism in the next 4 years, I'm still in the middle of sorting all the pedophiles and rapists out of my 8tb of media.
At some point, we're too beaten down to keep up with the purity of culture and those who aren't choose to beat us with a stick instead of helping us past the next hurdle. Instead of bemoaning our failure to rise, you've got to approa
... Show more...No OC, but personally its the shlog of doing it every day. I moved to mulvad during the proton problem, I moved to proton during the VPN hacks. I moved to VPNs during the ISP leaks. Yeah, changing a VPN is easy but if you compare my life now to 6 months ago the only things that I haven't had to abandon or replace are aldi, Weird Al, and a love for googie architecture. Every musician, every actor, every food product, every author, every hobby, has been tainted by the new horrible news to the point that I can no longer separate art and artist. I'm burnt out. I know I can't support these people but I know I can't keep constantly breaking my routine either. I don't have time to vet every single VPN for their likelihood of supporting fascism in the next 4 years, I'm still in the middle of sorting all the pedophiles and rapists out of my 8tb of media.
At some point, we're too beaten down to keep up with the purity of culture and those who aren't choose to beat us with a stick instead of helping us past the next hurdle. Instead of bemoaning our failure to rise, you've got to approach it with understanding and appreciation for the goopy human core and advocate for realistic solutions. Punishing people for their flaws is why Maga is where it is.
Cease
in reply to Postmortal_Pop • • •Dude I put in the work over a decade ago and haven't had to change since....
I also don't know what to say to the take that "punishing people for their flaws is why maga is where it is" I think it's quite the opposite
Idk about everyone else, but this reads like AI... maybe it was the phase
"Instead of bemoaning our failure to rise, you've got to approach it with understanding and appreciation for the goopy human core and advocate for realistic solutions" lmao
ComradePenguin
in reply to SomeOne • • •So paying for Mullvad indirectly funds this party.
Random Dent
in reply to ComradePenguin • • •Yup. As in, referring to immigrants as 'parasites' level racism.
melsaskca
in reply to SomeOne • • •The D Quuuuuill
in reply to melsaskca • • •melsaskca
in reply to The D Quuuuuill • • •