Swedish VPN vendor Mullvad is facing a backlash from some customers after co-founder Daniel Berntsson personally donated SEK 5 million (£385,000, $519,000) to the controversial populist Örebropartiet, which is running in Sweden’s national elections for the first time.
Berntsson has this week published a blog post explaining the donation, alongside posts titled “Immigration,” “Political individualism,” and “Moral individualism.” Before that, he had not posted since 2019.
The flurry of posts follows weeks of customer criticism over the donation – for example, Finnish blog Moonwriting’s post “I’m done with Mullvad.” Another blog, Unutterable, is more direct: “Mullvad funding the far-right and the problem with tech company ownership.” The Hacker News discussion thread about the donations has reached a remarkable 1,784 comments so far.
Mullvad was co-founded and is still jointly owned and run by two CEOs, Berntsson and Fredrik Strömberg. Its name, as reflected in the company’s logo, is Swedish for “mole.” It also offers the Mullvad Browser, a privacy-enhanced fork of Firefox ESR co-developed with the Tor Project. Swedish socialist newspaper Flamman (“The Flame”) revealed the donation in its story “High-profile techie gives millions to the Örebro Party.”
In a post on X, the company said it was devoted to freedom of speech and tolerance, saying: “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.”
So if I use Mullvad, some of that is funding far-right politics?
Unfortunately yes
Yes, although frankly it’s really fucking hard to name anything that isn’t these days. Like, you probably can’t even go grocery shopping without some of that money finding us way to alt right politics.
People can look up how various grocery store brands fund the republicans here: https://shophowyouvote.com/
Nice! there’s also https://www.goodsuniteus.com/
Thanks lol. Just learned Cheerios are fascist ;-;
That damn bee; I always knew.
It’s like the whole idea of accumulating as much wealth/power as you can leads to control and suffering of those with less wealth/power.
At this point it’s safer to just assume every purchase you make is funding far right politics.
Damnit, this little girl selling me lemonade got me good.
Little
girlcapitalist fascist Nazi with a merit badge in hating human rightsFTFY
I was expecting no less from Lemmy.
Just cosplaying as the average ml user
I mean, unless they have their own sugar cane and lemon tree, then the lemons and sugar were purchased from big agriculture, which yeah, funds the far right.
This is a frustrating pposition to be in, particularly when few people are willing to offer viable alternatives in such threads.
I don’t want to let a purity test be the reason I impulse switch to a less effective VPN, but don’t want to indirectly fund things I don’t support. Yes, money I spend on Mullvad might go towards shit I don’t want, but what else is on par with Mullvad that doesn’t have some other downside?
The only safe way to do that is to not spend at all. Unless you find a co-op, your money is going to some owner(s) who will use the money as they please. Commercial VPNs are mostly privacy snake oil and ways to get access to media, so abstaining for a while isn’t unreasonable.
Something something no ethical consumption under capitalism
The sentiment of this saying is true, but you should seek out the best options, anyway.
Or you should seek to reduce your consumption as much as possible.
Or both! Don’t consume where possible, seek out the most ethical option when you must
Indeed.
At a co-op you’re funding the workers and some of them are routing your money straight to fascists, too.
Afaik IVPN is really the only alternative. I’ll be switching to them soon when my account expires.
Before I switched from proton VPN to mullvad VPN, I thought I remembered when doing research there was only a few providers that said they did no logs, and had proof either through 3rd party audits or shown they couldn’t provide anything when court ordered.
Does IVPN have proof they do not log? Because im in the same boat, I dont want my money supporting fascists, but i also dont know of any alternative to switch to?
Besides switching back to proton VPN (which id rather not get into any controversy around them)
They don’t keep logs but have also never been raided by police, only using a third-party auditor.
Thanks, thats helpful! I saw someone post a link in another comment to a comparison chart (i should have read the rest of the thread before replying), and it looks like they’re at the top of my list now.
Can you post that chat here as well, please
Its one of the top level comments, not sure if im linking this right (first time trying like this): Link to comment - https://piefed.social/comment/12205039
Direct link to comparison website - https://vpn.techlore.tech/
Btw I had a lot of time left on my mullvad account and had paid for it a while back, when requesting a refund due to this shitshow they honoured it and paid back the rest.
Pretty happy for 8 years with Windscribe, a Canadian VPN. The fulfill their promises and no neo-nazis so far… 🤞
Allegedly, windscribes CEO is a Musk’s fan boy. Also, they are an AI first company (both support and dev)
😭
Indeed, and I haven’t heard any controversies.
…I am open to anyone who may have one to share.
I don’t think the world has ever been black and white. Whatever you purchase is based on someone’s suffering or funds it in some way or another. The best we can do is be less evil. If you think you can still do good by using mullvad’s service, you should stay. If you think switching will be more beneficial for you—even at the cost of productivity and perhaps a difference in price—then you should ditch Mullvad.
I’ve spent the last 2 years ditching services or products from companies that directly fund suffering. And I thought it was going to be overwhelming… But it wasn’t! Ditching Amazon ended up saving my family more than 100 dollars a month if we get things directly from the manufacturer. Plus the quality of items we get is better than cheap Amazon crap. The grocery store takes an extra 5 minutes to look on the back of a package for good or bad parent companies. I know it’s not perfect by far. But I’m not giving up being a better instead.
Oh for sure, I’ve been doing the same! My comment want meant to discourage people from trying. Sorry if came off that way.
I’ve gotten rid of most of Google of my PC and phone. Microslop, Amazon, Meta, all gone. And unfortunately, Steam too :(
I live in Japan so I have a lot of alternatives. Not only can I avoid US brands, I can avoid foods with US ingredients. I don’t buy Japanese chip brands of the potatoes are sources from the US.
Oh! It wasn’t meant as a criticism, just wanted to add my experience, how it was possible and positive.
In this world where we feel small and powerless, it’s been a way to feel we made some kind of punch back at evil.
Appears to be the case.
No, no, its just the ceo’s personal politics that he donates lots of money get fwrs from his job to.
Not as much as the food you eat or the utilities you use, but yes.
It seems so, and also who knows what else, maybe even the far left