Mullvad's co-founder responds to controversy, offers refunds; other developers speak out against the support of the far-right party in Sweden
In response to an issue opened on GitHub discussing the recent founder’s involvement in endorsing a far-right party in Sweden, a developer wrote this as the company’s statement:
Hi,
Mullvad was founded with a strict and focused mission: making mass surveillance and online censorship ineffective. That is what we as an organisation have always focused on, and will continue to do.
As an employer we have always made a point of welcoming new colleagues from across the political spectrum. Some of us eat meat. Some of us believe that is murder. Some of us dream of open borders (, and Daniel happens to be one of them.) Some don’t.
Daniel and I founded Mullvad because we have very similar opinions on privacy, mass surveillance and censorship. There are issues where we fundamentally disagree, as I’m sure do our colleagues - with us and with each other.
Speaking as a private individual
I don’t know much about Örebropartiet, and therefore don’t have a firm or complete opinion yet.
What I do have a firm opinion on is the value of deferring judgement when priors suggest one doesn’t have a complete picture, as well as tolerating differences of opinion as much as humanly possible. I am dismayed with the increasingly anti-intellectual political climate in the world.
On a more positive note, I am very thankful that my colleagues and I are able to live these values in our daily work, protecting the right for people to express things we don’t agree with.
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.
Finally, 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.
Cheers,
Fredrik Stromberg
They also added:
Personally, I don’t support Daniel’s decision to endorse the party either.
Mullvad also made a comment on X:
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, and will gladly refund you.
