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
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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.
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
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.
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He owns half the company so I’m not sure if he can be ousted.
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.
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.
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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
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.
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The company Mullvad do not support nor like Daniel Berntsson’s donation which is a personal donation from Daniel himself.
Mullvad as a company do not support far-right.
https://korben.info/en/mullvad-cofounder-funding-far-right.html
So long as Daniel is paid from Mullvad, Mullvad financially supports the far right by proxy.
That is true, but since the other employeers at Mullvad don’t like Daniel’s donation, they don’t take his side. Of course it’s very shameful that he did that donation, and I truly hope he gets fired.
But one thing must be clear: facts should be just that: facts! Daniel took his own money and personally donated it to that shitty party - not Mullvad!
Privacy is not something that neatly aligns with the left-right spectrum.
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.
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!
I renewed my account after I learned about it. Because the real Nazis are actively trying to cancel him for having an opinion. Wanting someone to be kick out of his job, to be cancelled, to be never allowed to work again because his opinion goes against yours, that’s real fascism.
I’m going to be downvoted to hell because the far left is too indoctrinated into believing that they have the only correct opinion and anyone with a different one is directly their enemy. They won’t understand that they are the fascists here but at least I tried.
Your money is given to a man. That man gives it to nazis.
You: but he’s the middle man! That means he can do whatever he wants with the money I give him, and even though I know he’ll give it to nazis, I’m fine with that! In fact, I’ll give him MORE money! The left is so indoctrinated for thinking my actions are wrong! It’s CANCELLING someone if you refuse to given them money! Being mean to a nazi supporter by refusing to give him my money is the REAL fascism!
You’re a real dickhead
Don’t breed
And we’re allowed to have our opinions too? Right wingers seem to be all about free speech in one direction. No one is entitled to our money. And many of us would rather not have our money, a significant portion of which going to the founder, redirected to a party advocating for ethnic cleansing. Which would make people need a vpn more via persecution.
For those looking for other options:
And before you try to downplay what the party stands for:
https://www.friatider.se/markus-allard-om-andra-generationens-invandrare-de-ska-ocksa-ut
Örebro Party leader Markus Allard goes to the election on expulsions. He opens to withdraw citizenship and also expel second generation of immigrants – even if they were born in Sweden.
“I’m prepared to cross corpses,” he said.One suggestion that he has is that citizenship and permanent residence permits can be torn up – with reference to “Sweden is the country of Swedes”.
In a section of Yoshi’s Podcast, Allard develops his view on expulsions and explains that he prepared to “go over corpses” to bring home unwanted immigrants. The host notes that there will be no beautiful sight when, for example, immigrant mothers who have been on maternity leave for 15 years are to be deported together with their children. “It’s not going to be pretty to send these people home,” he said. Markus Allard agrees, but says: I think you can handle that optics. Even the children will need to be deported, he explains.
He further explains that many of the problems relate to second-generation immigrants. They are going out too. Even if they were born in Sweden, because they have no natural connection to Sweden. They are not Swedes. They have not become Swedes. It says Sweden in the passport, but they have not been interested in becoming part of Sweden. There’s a difference. It’s a qualitative difference," Allard said
Damn, that is extreme
I use sometimes only an Proxy to skip country restrictions, I don’t use a VPN. If I need an VPN, I would probably use the SPN from the Portmaster which I use anyway.
Mullvad
Reverse credit card charge
Yeah… About that…
You mailed in cash didn’t you
Kinda their best feature
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.
Monero
You can really tell how cut-throat and efficient the free market is when founders just have millions spare knocking around to play at Blackshirts.
I honestly don’t give a damn. They make the best VPN and so I buy it. That’s the end of it.
Funding pedophiles isn’t stopping most of the american population from paying their taxes either.
Most Americans do not pay an income tax. That’s how broke bitches be. Paying social security etc is not a tax.
So there’s nothing for them to stop paying.
I stepped in shit with my left foot! Therefore it’s ok to step into vomit with my right foot!
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Be CEO of privacy company
Donate $500k to a right wing party publicly
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.
IIRC it is not the CEO but a co-founder. The CEO condemned it. But it’s all the same, money flowing into Mullvad floes into a neo-nazi group.
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
Quite a poignant quote.
Idc
Use librewolf browser
Do they have a VPN?
Protonvpn
lets harass them!!
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.
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…
Well, it’s not like the other founder approved his political donations. I think it’s a fair enough point to make, it is a private donation, and not a company donation.
a private donation with our money.
In a privately owned company, the wishes of the owners are the wishes of the company. Especially with political actions, treating them as completely separate is just putting blinders on.
Sure, but there are two owners. It’s possible to start a company with someone that has different views, or ones that diverge over time. You can’t really blame the other guy for his partner’s opinions.
So what should they do? Liquidate the company? Should the reasonable person leave the company he built? The guy the internet doesn’t like might still be ok to work with, and equally not want to leave. Should you get in trouble for your coworker’s opinions?
Yes
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“shitty to hold Mullvad accountable for this “ No. It’s not. Hold them accountable. Co-founder must have known that Berntsson has fascist tendencies. That’s kinda hard to hide
By all accounts, he seems to have been a fairly standard TESCREAL-adjacent high-decoupling libertarian until now, like a lot of tech founders. While some of these end up steelmanning fascism and coming to the conclusion that it’s pretty neat, it by no means follows.
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Fuck off idiot.
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if the company put out a fencesitting statement instead of bringing him consequences, at best they don’t care
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regardless, paying for a service that pays for fascism is something that might put them in trouble if they don’t deal with it.
that is if people care. that has to be a consideration these days.
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if this amounts to something remains to be seen
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)
Don’t rely on a totschlagargument to to save yourself from thinking about the complex consequences of your choices.
Even if you think Popper was right that doesn’t mean you can just draw a line down the middle of humanity dividing the intolerant-because-evil and intolerant-but-only-to-other-group.
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.
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Yeah, I will take a look into that. Thanks!
