Mullvad and Daniel Berntsson’s Failed Cleanup - Mark W.rites

In Being Human<br>--><br>Mullvad and Daniel Berntsson’s Failed Cleanup

in Being Human on Jul 21, 2026

Mullvad just released an official long-form response to the discovery that their co-founder Daniel Berntsson supporting a fascist party in Sweden. Their response doesn’t help, and neither does Daniel’s essay on why he donated to them.

In Mullvad’s post they consign to being a “political company” who is “careful in not taking political stances outside of our narrow areas of focus. Because we want to cooperate with everyone .” They follow this up by noting “protecting ideas one does not agree with is the only way to have a neutral field where truth can be found.”

The rest of the post is just an argument about how Mullvad fights for privacy. Which they do. And they’re good at it. But dismissing fascist ideals because “societies need a great diversity of ideas” is unequivocally dangerous. Especially when they align with Nazi ideals.

Daniel’s excuse

In his post about why he supports the Örebro Party, he digs a deeper hole by citing reasons that align with how the German Nazis won people over.

After a weak, ambiguous analogy (good luck deciphering it), he cites the reasons the ÖP is special and warrants support. The most nefarious being nationalism with a racist, xenophobic accusation that immigrants are to blame for society’s problems.

This is a core ideology that drives the ÖP economic policies: “class-conscious populism,” as a way to unite “productive” classes against the “transferiat” (people who need social welfare or who hold jobs in “made-up services”). And most of Daniel’s post is about this “deserves encouragement.”

The most offensive part of the ÖP “transferiat” fallacy is the xenophobia. They blame the problem on immigrants (sound familiar?) and promote repatriation policies to deport them. Party leader Markus Allard (who Daniel champions) is cited as saying “Sweden belongs to the Swedes. We have to make sure that we take care of our own damn people and we must deport these damn parasites who sit and live at our expense.”

We have to make sure that we take care of our own damn people and we must deport these damn parasites who sit and live at our expense.

Daniel also spends a lot of time praising a Markus Allard and Malcom Kyeyune podcast. In that podcast Markus stated his opinion on immigrants and deportation: “they will also be forced to leave, even if they are born in Sweden, because they have no natural connection to Sweden. They are not Swedish.”

The Nazi Party began as the German Worker’s Party (DAP). That was their name when Adolf Hitler joined them. He was attracted to the ideals of the DAP founder, Anton Drexler. Those ideals being anti-Semitism, nationalism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Marxism.

Mullvad’s excuse

The Nazis blamed the Jew. ÖP blames the Somalis. Nationalism and xenophobia, founded on racism. And this is the fundamental problem with Mullvad’s excuse. They’re trying to downplay Daniel’s fascism by promoting “diversity of ideas” with “rational debate.”

Debate is okay when we’re talking about pizza toppings. Debate is not okay when one side is trying to inflict suffering and violence on others because of racist lines drawn on a map.

We cannot separate ethics from technology. Ever. Under any circumstances. And we certainly cannot give our money to organizations who support violent ideals like fascism. Mullvad is saying “we have a privacy product and you should support us for that reason because ethics are irrelevant.” Yet the dollars we spend with Mullvad have enabled a fascist party in Sweden to evolve from largely unknown to prime time. There is a direct connection.

Conclusion

I’m gonna let Daniel put a bow on this essay with his own words:

“Do I like most of ÖP’s policies? No. Are they fit to run a country? No. (Neither are the other parties.) Do I want ÖP to get a lot of power? No. Will giving them a leg up in the competition with the other parties, given the local political circumstances, be a net positive? Maybe. Probably. Hopefully.”

Yet he solely contributed 72% of their total 2025 income. Enough for them to become a national party.

Tossing Mullvad and getting my refund was clearly the right call. Mullvad and Daniel tried to clean things up, but they failed. None of this makes me happy. In fact, it all breaks my heart. But the validation that they’re not interested in course correction is a spoon full of sugar.

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I’m Mark Wyner, an activist, dad, husband, Designer, writer, public speaker, and Mastodon moderator.