COLUMN • Gang connections surrounding an infected power struggle, Hamas controversies, aggressive lottery sales to the elderly, millions from charity lotteries, and political accounts with unclear origins. In just a few years, the Social Democrats have amassed an impressive series of scandals—while simultaneously continuing to claim the status of the moral compass of Swedish politics. Now the Social Democrats are entering the election campaign with influencers, Instagram, and reports of a 150,000 kronor offer to speak about why one should vote for S.

There’s something almost fascinating about the Social Democrats’ failures in recent years. Not only have there been many, but the party repeatedly manages to get caught up in precisely the kind of conduct it had just recently condemned in others.

When others have problems with crime, democracy is threatened. When others use questionable methods on social media, democracy is threatened. And when companies make money off vulnerable seniors, the welfare state is under threat.

But when the problems crop up somewhere in the Social Democrat galaxy, everything suddenly becomes terribly complicated.

My grandfather, Elof Andersson, was born in 1898 and was a Social Democratic municipal politician in Mölnlycke for many years. I remember him fondly—and he would have spun several times in his grave if he knew what had become of his party.

Botkyrka – When Reality Came to Visit

We can start in Botkyrka, where Social Democrat Ebba Östlin lost power after a poisonous conflict around the municipality’s ABF-run youth centers.

A Social Democrat shuts down operations after reports of crime, then loses power in her own party and later reveals she was threatened with her life. One might have called it a wake-up call to the new Sweden if it hadn’t been so damn Social Democratic.

Jonas Andersson

An external review pointed to, among other things, violence, drugs, and crime, and SVT revealed how leading figures from the Vårby network frequented one of the centers.

Östlin was voted out with 91 votes to 88 at a membership meeting in which new members took part. SVT reported that at least one person at the meeting was linked to gang crime, and the whole affair triggered an intense debate about possible infiltration of the Social Democrats.

The party’s own investigation later found no evidence of gang criminals infiltrating the party. What a surprise!

The story gained another dimension when, in 2026, Östlin revealed she had been threatened with murder during the power struggle: a man in a car beside her formed his hand into a pistol, pointed it at her, and mimed firing.

A Social Democrat shuts down operations after reports of crime, then loses power in her own party, and later reveals she was threatened with her life. One might have called it a wake-up call to the new Sweden if it hadn’t been so damn Social Democratic.

“El-Hamas” and the Conference S Advised Against

Then came Jamal El-Haj, or El-Hamas, as Magdalena Andersson accidentally dubbed him in a historical and tearful Freudian slip in the parliament.

The Social Democratic MP attended the European Palestinian Conference in Malmö in 2023 even though his own party had explicitly warned against it because conference chairman Amin Abu Rashid had links to Hamas.

ALSO READ: S fires Jamal El Haj – but Muslim party Nyans welcomes him

El-Haj left the foreign affairs committee but stayed in the party, while Magdalena Andersson continued to defend him. Later, older photos surfaced showing El-Haj and Abu Rashid together at a conference already in 2017.

When more reports emerged, including that El-Haj had tried to influence the Migration Agency in an asylum case, the Social Democrats finally lost confidence in him and urged him to leave parliament.

It’s worth pausing here—a party that has made care for the elderly a core part of its moral self-image made money from a lottery scheme in which demented people were among the affected consumers. The labor movement, solidarity, the pensioners who built Sweden—no means yes. It would have been too heavy-handed if someone wrote that as political satire.

Jonas Andersson

El-Haj left the Social Democrats—but kept his parliamentary seat and became a political independent. In some ways, it’s perfect. A party that for more than a hundred years made organization, control, and party discipline into an art form finally produced its first political renegade in parliament.

ALSO READ: El-Haj leaves the Social Democrats – becomes political renegade

The Labor Movement Discovers Telemarketing

Then the Kombilotteriet scandal exploded, and the Social Democrats’ self-image took yet another blow. Kombispel, owned by the Social Democrats and SSU, had contracted an external call center to sell lottery tickets via telephone.

ALSO READ: Here are the gang criminals at the Social Democrats’ call center

Former salespeople described aggressive techniques and instructions to never accept a no. SVT interviewed people who said questionable methods had been used for years, and old sales scripts included the nearly immortal phrase: “No means yes.”

Among the reports to the Consumer Agency were also cases involving people with dementia who did not understand what they were buying.

ALSO READ: Reports: Social Democrats’ elderly frauds have gone on for more than 15 years – “Totally crazy”

It’s worth pausing here—a party that has made care for the elderly a central part of its moral self-image made money off a lottery business in which dementia patients were among the affected consumers.

The labor movement, solidarity, the pensioners who built Sweden—no means yes. It would have been too on the nose if someone wrote it as political satire.

ALSO READ: They Built the Hate Machine – Now They Cry About the Tone

And Around the Call Center, Crime Showed Up

As if that wasn’t enough, Expressen reported that individuals in and around the call center that sold the lottery tickets had connections to serious organized crime. According to the newspaper’s investigation, people with links to criminal networks operated around the business.

From Botkyrka to a call center selling Social Democratic lottery tickets—the problems of the new Sweden seem to somehow always find their way into the fringes of the labor movement as well.

ALSO READ: After S lottery scandal: Government considers tougher action against telemarketing

When the scandal broke, party secretary Tobias Baudin called the information “entirely abhorrent.” The CEO was fired, the board was urged to resign, and external telemarketing was suspended.

Then you might think the Social Democrats would keep their distance from lotteries for a while. Instead, SVT revealed in 2025 that lotteries marketed by non-profit organizations channeled money through a company structure connected to the Social Democrats. The Monthly Lottery, Gold Lottery, and PRO Lottery were marketed for charity and organizational campaigns, while the business generated millions that ultimately went to the Social Democrats. According to SVT, lottery buyers were not informed of the party’s financial role.

Jonas Andersson

Telemarketing firm Effective Communication claimed that Kombispel and the Social Democrats had full insight into the sales methods, which the party denied.

This created the classic Social Democratic dilemma—if the party knew, it’s bad; if the party was unaware for years of how a business bringing in money to the movement operated, it’s also bad.

When Magdalena Andersson was asked why the party hadn’t acted earlier, she pointed out she only became party leader in 2021. A politically convenient calendar, to say the least.

ALSO READ: S leader on gang criminals in lottery sales: We get no donations from the wealthy

The story didn’t end with bad publicity. The Gambling Authority later imposed a three million kronor penalty after finding control failures and concluding that the business was not run soundly and safely with a focus on consumer protection.

Not Even Charity Escaped

Then you might think the Social Democrats would keep away from lotteries for a while. Instead, in 2025 SVT revealed that lotteries marketed by non-profit organizations funneled money through a company structure linked to the Social Democrats.

The Monthly Lottery, Gold Lottery, and PRO Lottery were marketed for charity and organizational events, while the business generated millions that ultimately went to the Social Democrats. According to SVT, lottery buyers were not informed about the party’s financial role.

ALSO READ: The Social Democrats’ troll factory has received over 120 million in grants

It’s almost impressively efficient. You think you’re buying a ticket to support a good cause and end up also contributing to the Social Democrats’ party coffers. The popular movement’s own Kinder Egg.

Then Came the Troll Factory

When TV4’s ‘Kalla Fakta’ in 2024 revealed the Sweden Democrats’ anonymous accounts, Magdalena Andersson was one of the harshest critics. Political propaganda must have a clear sender, and SD’s methods were presented as a serious threat to democracy.

ALSO READ: Proof: Social Democrats ordered the creation of troll factories

I basically agree. Those trying to influence voters should tell people who is behind the message, and that’s an excellent principle—especially if you remember it when your own party is under scrutiny.

For in 2025, Social Democrats’ own media company AiP Media came under the lens. The S-owned company ran, among other things, Politikkollen and the meme account “Jävla uland,” while the connection to the Social Democrats was far from apparent for anyone encountering a single post in their feed.

ALSO READ: Magdalena Andersson defends troll factories: “Natural”

Politikkollen could at first glance be perceived as an independent information site about Swedish politics. TV4 described the content as politically slanted, with a negative portrayal of the Tidö parties and more positive coverage of the Social Democrats.

S Paid—But of Course Decided Nothing

AiP defended its practice by saying it was editorially independent and that information about its ownership could be found. The Social Democrats could thus point to an arm’s length relationship between the party and the party-owned media company.

Then TV4 found documents that, according to the channel’s investigation, showed the business was part of a larger Social Democrat digital initiative, and that the Social Democrats paid AiP for services. That didn’t exactly make the organizational chart easier to explain to voters.

ALSO READ: Social Democrats’ troll factories may break the law

The party owns the company, the party pays the company, and the company produces political content. But the party definitely doesn’t decide what the company publishes. Seriously?

AiP is also located at Sveavägen 68, the same address as the Social Democrats’ headquarters. It must be one of Sweden’s shortest geographic, but longest organizational distances.

After the investigation, AiP announced it would be clearer about who was behind its content. So it had already been clear, but—after journalists discovered how that clarity worked—it would now be even clearer. Really?

Hypocrisy is the Core Itself

SVT’s political commentator Mats Knutson found the most apt word for the affair—hypocrisy. Magdalena Andersson had been one of the harshest critics of the so-called SD “troll factory” and was now forced to explain why her own movement’s digital operations could, at least for ordinary voters, appear embarrassingly familiar.

ALSO READ: TV4 program about “SD’s troll factory” wins major journalism award

And here lies the common thread running through recent years for the Social Democrats.

The problem is not that people in a huge political movement sometimes make mistakes, but the monumental difference between the moral standard the Social Democrats demand of their opponents and the one they apply when the problem is in their own ranks.

Others have propaganda; the Social Democrats have information. Others have financial interests; the Social Democrats have popular movements. Others have troll accounts; the Social Democrats have editorially independent media companies. That’s obviously BS.

ALSO READ: No abolition of multiple offense discounts for criminals if the Social Democrats get their way

When things go to hell, there’s always an organizational chart on hand showing why the activities were really three companies, two boards, and one popular movement removed from the party leadership.

Power is centralized when it’s time to celebrate success, but responsibility is decentralized when real journalists from Samnytt call.

From Workers’ Halls to Instagram and Islamism

And so we reach election year 2026. Sweden’s historically most powerful popular movement has discovered that workers’ halls, May Day, and door-knocking are no longer enough in the TikTok generation’s Sweden, so Magdalena Andersson has ventured into influencer territory.

At the end of August, a clip was published showing Andersson with influencer profiles Alice Stenlöf and Klara Elvgren encouraging people to vote. Naturally, there’s nothing odd about a politician collaborating with influencers—political parties must communicate where the voters are.

ALSO READ: SVT launches SD-ridiculing movie just before the election

But around the same time, influencer Eleonore Stokholm, with tens of thousands of Instagram followers, said she was offered 150,000 kronor via an intermediary for a post explaining why people should vote for the Social Democrats.

The Social Democrats’ dependence on votes in Muslim-dominated areas comes at a price. When Islamism and religious separatism should be met with resolve, they are all too often met with cowardice and appeasement—for why risk power by challenging voters you can’t afford to lose? That’s how Islamism spreads while the Social Democrats count votes.

Jonas Andersson

Here the Social Democrats’ denial is crystal clear. Party secretary Tobias Baudin says the party does not pay digital creators for such collaborations, and the person who contacted Stokholm claims no concrete offer was ever made. Stokholm, however, sticks to her account.

ALSO READ: Government demands full transparency from S after influencer allegations

Even so, the overall picture is almost too perfect. The party that once organized industrial workers, built workers’ halls, created study circles, and rallied hundreds of thousands around a political idea now, a hundred years later, stands in front of a mobile phone camera with influencers.

Meanwhile, another influencer claims she was offered 150,000 kronor via an intermediary to explain why people should vote Social Democrat.

From Per Albin Hansson to Instagram, from the ‘people’s home’ to the feed, and from “Do your duty, demand your rights” to: Use discount code SOSSE150.

This may be the real Social Democratic disaster. Not Botkyrka, El-Haj, Kombilotteriet, or even the near-comic contortions to explain why their own digital propaganda is fundamentally different from their opponents’.

The Social Democrats’ dependence on votes in Muslim-dominated areas also comes at a price. When Islamism and religious separatism should be met with resoluteness, they are instead often met with cowardice and appeasement—for why risk power challenging voters you can’t afford to lose?

That’s how Islamism spreads while the Social Democrats count votes.

ALSO READ: Among the high-rises and concrete where Sweden fell apart

Social democracy once built its power by convincing people they were part of the movement. You might have hated the politics, but there were ideas, organizations, and hundreds of thousands who truly believed in the project.

Now what’s left is a party that seems to need ever more intermediaries to convince voters of its own virtue: lottery companies, media companies, anonymous or poorly labeled accounts, and finally influencers.

ALSO READ: Jan Emanuel wants the Social Democrats to lose the election: “Magda forced to resign”

In the past, the Social Democrats earned people’s trust. Now, it seems they’ve begun to ask what it costs. My Social Democratic grandfather would not recognize his party.

And perhaps that is the harshest verdict of all.