After Kallafakta’s revelation that the Sweden Democrats’ communications department runs anonymous accounts in social media, harsh criticism has been directed at the party. The Social Democrats want to suspend SD officials from the government office pending a new security clearance
But party leader Jimmie Åkesson calls the debate “bizarre” and says that they have no plans to change the way they work.
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– If you look at the content of these anonymous tiktok pages, it is quite inoffensive. It’s about satire and humor in the first place, he says and continues:
– I don’t think it’s particularly controversial.
Defending anonymous accounts
Jimmie Åkesson defends the use of anonymous accounts by saying that all the Sweden Democrats’ sympathizers do not want to be open about it.
– Then this gives them an opportunity to still participate in the debate, share further material and the like.
But this is about accounts that the party runs?
– It is also a question of definition, which will eventually be sorted out. Formally, it is not the party that runs the accounts, it is individuals who are either involved in the party or work for the party.
Jimmie Åkesson emphasizes that it is not him who controls the whole thing, nor his communications manager Joakim Wallerstein.
– It’s a fairly free activity, which he calls “influencers” who sit and work with their various tracks.
L proposes a ban
The Tidö parties have also reacted to Kalla fakta’s disclosure and believe that a number of posts violate agreements in the Tidö agreement. The Liberals want to make it illegal for parties to use anonymous accounts.
In Agenda, Jimmie Åkesson says that he is open to discussing an approach, but that he has difficulty seeing what a ban would look like in practice.
On Monday, a meeting with all Riksdag parties will be held on “the political discussion climate” on the initiative of the Moderates’ party secretary Karin Enström.