Post #3983933
2026-07-21 10:48 UTC
Replies (19)
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@EdwardCage@mastodon.social 2026-07-21 11:11
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online You still have not understood what this controversy is about. Nobody here denies anyone the right to have freedom of speech nor to donate to political parties. This controversy is about us not wanting to indirectly fund this party, as custommers. Your custommers money goes to the Mullvad company. Then a little part of this money goes to Daniel. And a part of his money goes to this party.
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@samuel@social.spejset.org 2026-07-21 12:26
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online you're not doing things better by once again not condemning financial support for fascist forces but rather encouraging it by linking to his blog post
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@GleamingBlitz@infosec.exchange 2026-07-21 12:39
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online Stop addressing the controversy, you can't dig up, only down. Daniel has to leave Mullvad, it's the only solution. In January, when my current payment is up, I'll be switching to #nymvpn Their CEO is everything I like in a CEO. #antifascist, an #anarchist, arrested for protesting, hates the authorities, and sees the world for the hellscape it's becoming. Also, Nym has better technology that takes into account the threats users face in today's world. You need to watch TheHatedOne's video about this situation. He explains very clearly why your customers and former customers aren't happy. https://www.bitchute.com/video/7UmyDGjxO_s
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@Kow@infosec.exchange 2026-07-21 12:57
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online Its seems everyone is mad that the company doesn't control its employees outside of their business practices. If my employer told me I couldn't donate money to someone because of politics I would tell them to go fuck themselves. What if your company told you you couldn't go to a protest or post "fuck ice" on your private socials? I get it, he's a big guy in the company and he supports some nasty stuff. You should feel entitled to give your money where you see fit, but don't try to set a precedent of your employer controlling your life outside of work. That's truly evil. Should companies freely fire people that don't agree with their politics? Aren't we on Mastadon and Mullvad to escape being monitored and controlled? Quit trying to make it a one-way thing. If one side can't do it, neither can the other.
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@Omega_Scribet@mementomori.social 2026-07-21 12:26
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online Wrong move. Get rid of Daniel, apologize for not getting rid of him in the first place and hope some will stay/come back - trying to be a-political when many of your customers are mad because of a despicable political donation is stupid and suicidal.
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@penguinrebellion@tldr.nettime.org 2026-07-21 11:35
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online To quote you: »It should be clear by now how the party donation relates to this. Mullvad does not condone it, nor condemn it. It most likely was a bad idea; most things where there are a multitude of conflicting opinions necessarily are. But societies need a great diversity of ideas, initiatives and organizations who can be tested and sifted until the best ones remain. Ideally through rational debate.« In short: You believe that the promotion of racist and xenophobic ideologies, including deportation, aka "remigration" of citizens, should be filed under "diversity of ideas". You also declare the deportation of people as yet another idea, "tested and sifted until the best ones remain". You did not address the fact that half a million Euros donated by your Co-CEO didn't come out of thin air, but was most likely money made from what he earned as your Co-CEO. In other words: you don't object to the money made from your customers openly funneled into the support of a racist and extremist party. To which we say: Fuck you, enablers of racism.
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@lazou@kanoa.de 2026-07-21 12:54
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online Daniel Berntsson is not just a private individual, but a co-founder, 50-percent owner and active CEO of Mullvad. In that position, he should represent the company’s values credibly and, as a key figure in its leadership, ensure that his actions reflect those principles. Yet five million Swedish kronor were used to provide substantial support to a political party whose policies contradict Mullvad’s publicly stated position on several fundamental issues. These include expanded state surveillance, more surveillance cameras, an extremely restrictive immigration policy and a comprehensive policy of so-called remigration. That stands in clear opposition to a company that presents itself as a defender of privacy, freedom and protection from surveillance. Mullvad cannot describe itself as a political company, campaign against censorship and surveillance, and at the same time claim that a political donation of this scale by its own co-founder and CEO can be completely separated from the company. Anyone who publicly promotes certain values must also be judged by how the company’s leading figures use the influence made possible by its economic success. The statement “It was a private donation” is therefore not enough. It comes across as a convenient shield against taking real responsibility. It remains undisclosed where the five million kronor came from and how credible Mullvad can still appear when one of its most important owners financially strengthens a party whose policies contradict the company’s own publicly stated values. “Private” does not mean without consequences, apolitical or detached from the company. Until Mullvad answers these questions openly, its statement remains inadequate, unconvincing and an attempt to downplay an obvious conflict of values.
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@PsyChuan@plush.city 2026-07-21 15:27
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online hey, Daniel, i know you're reading this. if you donate money to a fascist party you are not an anarchist. doesn't matter what modifier you put in front of it. you're a collaborator. a quisling. our doors are closed to you and when they come for you, and they will, you will find no refuge. we'll be busy looking after the people who didn't help the fascists.
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@kbal@fedia.io 2026-07-21 10:58
Thank you for clarifying that Mullvad is officially unwilling to condemn populist ethnic nationalism.
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@seq@infosec.exchange 2026-07-21 20:02
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online I've been grateful for Mullvad, since its been one of the only vocal groups for privacy in this country for a long time now. Ever since FRA was established I've had the feeling that most people don't give a single shit about this anymore. As long as they can complain about the weather, take their annual plane vacation to Tenerife and post their incessant shit on Instagram in order to get a few more likes from their relatives and friends so they can stroke their own egos for a bit. Therefore I've been silent about this whole ordeal, in anticipation of what kind of statement and actions Mullvad would take after reflecting on this for a while. Remember, this amount of money in this small country makes this a different beast than something you can just boil down to "Hey, we don't give a shit what Mr. Doe spends his weekly private allowance on, give us some slack." This is not chump change over here. I would've guessed that their co-founders and employees would be smarter than this. I would've guessed that they would realise that this issue is really important and demands proper focus. That it's too important to let even the prospect of a misstep ruin it (I think we all know the thin ice VPN providers in particular live on when it comes to trust). I've been a paying subscriber for quite a few years by now, and I was not happy about having to look up this particular party in Örebro. I would've hoped that I wouldn't have to spend my time on something like that because of this. Now, I live in Sweden (unfortunately) but I don't live near Närke and because of that I don't really see any news about local issues there. Local news are very solidly guarded behind paywalls in this country, so we're not really encouraged to find any news about our neighbours, leaving most of us to read about other peoples' feelings and guesses on Facebook. I still haven't managed to find a lot of news or facts about this party due to this, but in my mind it's not actually really the most important aspect of this either. The co-founder has in all likelihood gotten enough wealth from this company to be able to spend nearly 500 000€ on this party contribution, and judging from his own admission he doesn't particularly agree with their views or want them to have more power. If the blog post is to be believed (once you've gotten through the initial parts that are mostly factoids followed by his own unsubstantiated deductions and conclusions) it seems he basically spent it because of... a general feeling of "meh, fuck it". Or...? That's even more befuddling if that's the case. I don't know about the rest of you, but I never signed up for contributing to that. (And if he has such a private wealth that he can leisurely spend that amount of money with or without the help of his company on something he allegedly doesn't even really believe in I'd say it's even worse, and that it's obvious that he's part of the problem he himself is lamenting that this country is suffering from). I won't call Mullvad co-founders or employees fascists. I won't call them any other names either. I won't even ask for a refund for the subscription I currently have. But I cannot justify renewing my subscription when it expires in a few months either. I genuinely thought Mullvad were smarter and more serious than this. I thought they would be able to handle this more responsibly than this. Their latest statement has in my ears basically amounted to "Don't sweat it dude, we might occasionally splurge on some stupid shit from time to time. Who knows what consequences it might bring lol. But we still got you fam." To that I say: good luck, but I'm not comfortable with that "vibe", so I'm going to try to find a more serious and focused alternative to spend my money on from here on. As Mullvad themselves have basically stated the last few years, this issue is too important. Imagine what Mullvad could have done if the co-founders were serious enough about their own organisation to put this amount of money towards this actual issue instead? Also Mullvad, seriously: "But societies need a great diversity of ideas, initiatives and organizations who can be tested and sifted until the best ones remain. Ideally through rational debate." Since when was a private financial contribution of 500 000€ to a singular regional party an attempt to "sift initiatives and ideas and have a rational debate"? That's exactly the kind of behaviour you yourself have been criticising other private companies of doing in order to try to influence political decisions. Shame on you for not owning up to your own actions.
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@Laukidh@infosec.exchange 2026-07-22 03:10
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online didn’t we already do this last week? It’s not going to go any different
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@marcotietz@infosec.exchange 2026-07-22 03:26
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online you're so fucked
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@BenjaminKlein@mastodon.nu 2026-07-22 04:36
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online this is a long thread but didn't see anyone mention, you are a VPN, trust us a big deal. Ingvar Kamprad was a fascist but he just sold furniture. As an immigrant in Sweden I have 0 trust in you now.
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@awfulwoman@indieweb.social 2026-07-21 11:01
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online oh my actual god. This very definitely not the save that you seemingly thought it was. Linking to a blog post by your CEO where he defends bankrolling a right-wing party (and yes, forcible remigration and othering the poor is right-wing). 😮 As for this quote: “Do I like most of ÖP’s policies? No. Are they fit to run a country? No.” wtf Is he bankrolling them? Yes.
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@draken@masto.nyc 2026-07-21 11:11
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online Your word salad neglects to mention that your CEO gets paid through OUR money, and the only way to enact the remigration the fascist fuckface wants to do is through mass surveillance, which calls into question how long it's going to be before he orders the Mullvad team to backdoor the VPN. Go fuck yourselves, fascist apologists.
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@Theo_10@mastodon.social 2026-07-21 11:10
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online well said. Appreciate the company issuing a statement.
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@lambdacalculus@masto.hackers.town 2026-07-21 11:15
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online You had every opportunity to eject your CEO for contributing to a party that wants a bulk of your customer base dead and you didn't. You could've read the entire room but you didn't even bother peeking in the door. I will no longer recommend you to anyone ever again, renew my subscription, or touch your service again. You assholes fucked up big time.
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@ambiguous_yelp@veganism.social 2026-07-21 10:56
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online I've read the article: pretending that your revenue doesn't go towards supporting far right politics doesn't change the fact your customers don't want to financially support that. #Mullvad
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@dmantis@defcon.social 2026-07-21 10:59
@mullvadnet@mastodon.online Keep doing what you do. It's impossible to make whiny people happy, especially if half of them are probably three-letter agency bot farms trying to move people to shitty honeypots. Thanks for the great service!