Flashback Forum, whose signature is to take freedom of speech to its utmost limit, crashed on Tuesday after the mass murder in Örebro. According to information to SVT, the site set a visitor record during the evening with over 130,000 visitors at the same time.
– According to Jan Axelsson, it must have been up to 900,000 unique visitors during these days, which is about twice as much as usual days and records for Flashback, says freelance journalist Jack Werner.
During ongoing major events, many are looking for the site because the detective work can last in real time without taking into account press ethical rules.
Often, perpetrators and victims are identified at an early stage and in 2023 Flashback suddenly became the social media platform with the highest confidence among its users, according to the Media Academy’s trust barometer.
Incorrect designations
But on Tuesday, the outcome was different. The Express had a picture and established identity on the perpetrator just over a day after the deed.
During the 30 hours that went by between the shooter entering Risbergska in Örebro and that his identity was published the forum identified several men incorrectly.
Among other things, a man in Uppsala who received police protection overnight and a 35-year-old man in Örebro who later chose to come forward in the Express to clean himself.
Users’ criticism
At Flashback, several users are critical of both the forum’s detective work and that innocents have been hanged out.
“‘Detective Flashback’ is absolutely fucking useless,” writes a user.
“People just spray different Rickards and Björns without the slightest consequences it has for those who are designated. Fyfan, ”writes another.
Flashback’s founder Jan Axelsson has previously been charged with not having removed posts on Flashback which may constitute a crime. The trial is scheduled to be held in March this year.
In the clip: See more about how Flashback followed the mass shooting in Örebro.
SVT has applied for Jan Axelsson.