Riks-chefen om AiP:s kartläggning: Ett nytt lågvattenmärke i svensk politik

Jakob Hagnell food editor at Riksvälkommen Thank you very much Carl We have another scandal being rolled out by AIP-media and the Social Democrats It has now come to light that political opinions have been recorded without consent from individuals who are likely minors What is your first reaction to this This is quite a spicy story for the Social Democrats First revelations about the troll factories and then Aftonbladet's culture of exposing how they try to enroll young people in a database to expose them to political propaganda It's a new low in Swedish politics I'd say She's on the wrong side of the border Many parties have cookies and so on but you give your consent to data collection and you can't act like this towards minors What do you think about this privacy violation How serious is this It is obviously very serious because it has been systematically done in a way that attempts to uncover the political opinions of individuals Are they interested in socialism conservatism liberalism and so on And in this way connect these young people and children to their social media accounts to later expose them to propaganda We can see that young people are currently moving towards the Swedish mainstream Moderaterna and Sverigedemokraterna are the parties that have quite strong approval ratings among just Sweden's youth Social Democrats are now lagging behind and I think we are seeing a desperation from Sveavägen 68 and then people start taking such measures as the end justifies the means Socialdemokraterna have been extremely critical of your so-called troll factory and your me accounts Their reaction at the time was related to the EU election when they wanted to monitor all social media across the entire EU What do you think about that response compared to what's happening now There are two things you need to keep in mind when it comes to this magic factory and TV4 I am the CEO and editor-in-chief of Riks we are an independent company where I am the sole owner of the entire business Without what they discovered and what TV4 mixed up it's that the Sweden Democrats had a row of anonymous accounts spreading different messages on platforms like TikTok and so on Some of those accounts were under the name Ludvig Aspling a member of the Swedish Parliament for the Sweden Democrats ST-Tobbe ST-Monkan and so on I think it's quite revealing that the Social Democrats are reacting so strongly Then it sounded like something from Putin's Russia it was a threat to democracy Moharrem Demirok from the Center Party demanded that the Security Service be involved but then the Social Democrats essentially did the exact same thing in a ruthless manner It's clear that much of this is just a political riddle for the Social Democrats so to speak this fake indignation When their wholly owned subsidiary AIP Media has conducted or even a more severe influence operation targeting children and youth This influence operation itself which you call it is just political control It's a site where the Social Democrats have gathered information about politics in general but framed it to their advantage Without a particularly clear sender this is also backed by AIP Media This data among other things has been collected and minors without their consent There are several steps involved here What do you think about European legislation the data protection authority and what should be done Yes this is clearly a violation of that Individuals have been mapped and this is considered especially sensitive information because it relates to political views The authorities should definitely look into this talk to the Social Democrats because one should remember that the Social Democrats are trying to shift the blame But it means that it's AIP Media AB behind this but it's just a wholly owned subsidiary of the Social Democrats Living in the same house as the Social Democrats and the Social Democrats themselves have also reported several publications earlier Written about how they plan to focus on offensive digital strategies Here everything would need to be examined I'm drawing parallels to the lottery scandal as it turned out that the mafia was used on the Spanish Costa del Sol to defraud retirees of their lottery money There the government actually put its foot down and forced the Social Democrats to start paying taxes on this profitable business It's a very morally bankrupt behavior Naturally in politics all political parties try to get their message out and reach voter groups What makes this story so spicy is when the Social Democrats have set themselves on very high horses and thrown dirt on a series of parties to their right regarding their digital strategies So it turns out that one is just as badly if not worse in one's own actions I think here the authorities really need to step in and check out what's going on with these health issues To avoid having a dirty election campaign like the one Magdalena Andersson seems to have brought with her from the US where she met Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager People can clearly see that they are trying so desperately to transfer this highly polarized conversation from the US with mudslinging misinformation and a very poor situation and Sweden can actually do better You've been involved in many election campaigns what do you think this will do to the poll numbers I think the effect is actually quite marginal in the short term Trust figures can definitely be affected as we saw after the lottery scandal when the mafia was allowed to sell lottery tickets to Swedish pensioners Then Magdalena Andersson took a significant hit in the confidence numbers He still enjoys high trust but it is beginning to become difficult for the Social Democrats as they can't really handle this The handling has been very poor We basically saw a murder of passion carried out on SVT when Karl-Oskar Bolin debated against Daniel Färm which shows that the emperor is indeed quite naked Does it have a greater impact on the election No it's too early to say Her confidence in Magdalena Andersson always gets a thorn when she tries to portray herself as this big city man Men it turns out that yes her stuff also stinks This the lottery and the mafia you're talking about is in fact a sales company that has handled the sale of S-owned combination lotteries But this sales company has connections to crime just so you know This is the third time the Social Democrats have been caught using anonymous accounts or some form of troll factory What do you think this will lead to in terms of change The impression I've gotten is that the Social Democrats don't seem very interested in change They are as said very nervous about not having a huge impact on Swedish youth They will continue to experiment with various methods of reaching these individuals with or without their consent so to speak Oh that's what's so astonishing about this scandal I don't think it would surprise me if we see that someone is trying to do something with AIP media very soon Maybe they are putting it into a separate company to try to increase the distance The Social Democrats' stance has been that they refuse to take responsibility in this matter He takes it all in stride but it seems he isn't really taking this seriously or caring about the extensive criticism he has received Do you think we will see an end to this type of activity from the Social Democrats The strategy I have is good and it's a question one can discuss is this really the winning strategy To get its political message across is it trying to lead people astray I understand that the Social Democrats are very nervous about not having any major successes in the digital forums We should remember that the Social Democrats are still extremely strong among for example retirees People who have grown up with SVT their entire lives as the only lasting media outlet This is probably not the last time we will see this type of scandal erupt again Men here all political parties should probably ask themselves a question: is this a way worth communicating in Isn't it better to go to the polls with real politics with a real vision for Sweden What is another idea on how we can solve the extensive problems currently present in Sweden The editor-in-chief of AIP-medias Jenny Åkervall is almost leaving she is taking a leave of absence What do you think this means It's clear now that someone is trying to regain some form of respect for the entire media project Social Democrats' government has indeed been brought to ridicule It is indeed embarrassing what we can see happening here right now I think it's a desperate move to try to save what can be saved to show some kind of initiative somewhere The fundamental problem is still that their subsidiary company is a factory of miracles So I don't think this will actually be enough because the damage is so extensive in this highly unethical campaign structure Social Democrats are driving through AIP media The Social Democrats' defense has been that AIP media is an independent editorial team They make their own decisions Jenny Åkervall who is now on leave of absence has political assignments for the Social Democrats in Danderyd What are your thoughts on that commitment It's certainly the case that no one really believes what they say They are located at Sveavägen 68 and are directly owned by the Social Democrats Daniel Färm who is the CEO has a long history as a member of parliament and has worked closely with various S-top leaders and similar figures This is just a typical Social Democratic Party strategy If the editorial is independent then it must be But they still do not lower this part with just the toy factory and similar ones which is what the Social Democrats have had as an explicit goal To have offensive digital strategies I let your viewers and readers decide for themselves what does that mean then There is widespread criticism that the Social Democrats never admit they have been wrong I have been talking to people who have witnessed this since the 70s and 80s What kind of consequences do you think such a culture would have We are seeing the consequences of this culture right now especially with many of the extensive problems currently present in Sweden How this culture has developed there is no trace of self-criticism or similar Here I hope that the previous intervention actually puts a clear end to it as was done with the lottery scandal Then the Social Democrats cried out that it was a threat to democracy that the mafia should not be allowed to sell lottery tickets and cheat elderly Swedes Politicians and authorities really need to take a stand and make it clear What is so strange about this is that the rules are already in place Everyone is expected to follow them It's not a recommendation this code of conduct but it's what applies Then all parties must be held to the same standards or else we will end up with some real jungle law that takes over instead It's not a pleasant scenario for anyone