The Sweden Democrats have made an apology regarding posts about the Tidö parties during a meeting with the party secretaries.
– We agree on certain posts and the tonality in them and that they are not in line with the respect clause in the Tidö agreement, says Mattias Bäckström Johansson, SD’s party secretary.
In total, there are 45 posts about the government parties. They will now be deleted.
– The two employees who worked with social media will now have other tasks until they have undergone training on the respect clause in the Tidö agreement, he says.
Have nothing to apologize for
Moderate party secretary Karin Enström tells TV4 Nyheterna that SD has apologized during the meeting.
“It is good that SD has accepted the criticism and is now taking measures to change the way their communications department works. They have also made an apology at our meeting,” she writes in a written comment.
But when TV4 Nyheterna questions SD’s party secretary after the meeting, he replies that the party has nothing to apologize for.
L: Close the accounts
The background is Call the fact check which, among other things, reveals that the Sweden Democrats anonymously spread disparaging content about parties in the Tidö collaboration.
The Liberals have demanded that SD shut down the anonymous accounts, but that will not happen, says Bäckström Johansson.
Will there be any consequences for communications manager Joakim Wallerstein?
– No.
Is he staying?
– Yes.
Facts: The review
In two programs, TV4’s Kalla fakta has reviewed how the Sweden Democrats use anonymous accounts on the internet.
Kalla fakta’s reporter has worked for nine months on the YouTube channel Riks and later as a communicator at SD’s communications department.
With the help of a hidden camera, it is revealed how Riks and the party are closely connected, and how employees of the communications department run a large number of anonymous accounts online to denigrate political opponents and spread content that benefits their own party. Internally, the operation is called the “troll factory”, according to the review.