Tiktok has shut down 35 accounts – spreading SD’s agenda

Tiktok has shut down 35 accounts that spread the Sweden Democrats’ agenda.
It is presented in a new report from the platform, which the social media expert and journalist, Emanuel Karlsten was the first to report on.
“The individuals behind this network created fake users to artificially reinforce narratives that favor the Sweden Democrats and their agenda,” the report states.

In a new one transparency report from Tiktok it appears that 35 accounts were closed that spread the Sweden Democrats’ agenda.

According to the report, the accounts operated from Sweden, targeted a Swedish audience and the individuals behind the “network” worked to promote the Sweden Democrats and their agenda.

“The individuals behind this network created fake users to artificially reinforce narratives that favor the Sweden Democrats and their agenda,” Tiktok writes in the report.

The accounts are said to have also pretended to be government authorities and were misleading, according to the report. In total, the accounts must have had just over 109,000 followers.

In Cold Facts’ Review, “Undercover in the troll factory” identified 23 anonymous accounts on social media that the Sweden Democrats used, 13 of which were on Tiktok. In June, the 13 accounts were closed down. Tiktok then confirmed for TV4 Nyheterna that it was the platform itself that chose to shut down the accounts.

Data: Based on Kalla fakta’s review

The report describes the finding as external, meaning that the review has been initiated from the outside. According to the social media expert and journalist Emanuel Karlsten sources at Tiktok have previously confirmed that Kalla fakta’s review led to an internal survey.

The sources must also have hinted that more accounts would be singled out in a future report. Tiktok itself has not commented on whether the now suspended accounts are the designated troll accounts. In a comment to TV4 Nyheterna, Tiktok writes that it does not want to comment on the content of the report or the networks that appear in it.

Daniel Andersson, reporter at Kalla fakta who carried out the review, believes that there may be more anonymous accounts than those that were pointed out in the review.

– In our review, we have been able to identify 23 accounts on social media, of which 13 are on TikTok, which we have been able to connect with 100 percent certainty to SD’s communications department. But since we have been very restrictive, it is clear that there could be more accounts that are controlled or have been controlled from the party. And what we know is that at least the 13 accounts that we could identify on TikTok have been taken down by the platform in June after the review, says Daniel Andersson.

SD: “This has nothing to do with us”

In a written comment to TV4 Nyheterna, the Sweden Democrats write that the accounts have nothing to do with them.

“This has nothing to do with us. We have no anonymous accounts today. Exactly how we will work on social media in the future remains to be seen, but it is not unreasonable that we draw inspiration from the Social Democrats in that regard,” writes the Sweden Democrats’ press department.