The Facebook pages and news sites run by the Social Democrats through proxy companies may violate the law. The reason is a new EU regulation that requires transparency in political advertising.
Already in May last year, Samnytt wrote about the Facebook pages run by the Social Democrats through their wholly-owned company AiP Media Produktion AB.
One of the pages in question is ”Sverige inför verkligheten” (Sweden facing reality) and ”Samtidigt i Sverige” (Meanwhile in Sweden); pages from which satire, mockery, and so-called memes are spread against the government parties and their representatives.
READ ALSO: Social Democrats have invested over five million in troll factories
The Facebook pages have tens of thousands of followers, without anywhere stating that it is a political party behind them.
Troll factories, according to the Social Democrats
The current Facebook pages are classified as troll factories, according to the definition used by the Social Democrats themselves. It involves negative campaigning, mudslinging if you will, where political opponents are mocked and vilified through social media accounts with unclear senders.
Last spring, Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson did not mince words when the Sweden Democrats were accused of running similar social media accounts.
– It’s a method that brings to mind Russia! she exclaimed in parliament.
READ ALSO: Important to objectively dare to investigate TV4’s lies about SD
However, there is a difference between the Social Democrats’ troll factories and the alleged ones of the Sweden Democrats. And that is that the former party spends quite a large sum of money on its Facebook pages.
It involves several million kronor that the Social Democrats spend to increase the reach of the posts. Something that Facebook owner Meta discloses through the Ad Library tool.
According to the same tool, the Sweden Democrats do not spend any advertising money on their so-called troll factories.
May violate the law
And it is precisely the fact that the Social Democrats run Facebook pages that they pay to promote, which is legally questionable. On October 10 this year, a new EU regulation came into force, on transparency and targeting in political advertising, which is binding on all member states.
According to the regulation, every political advertising message must be accompanied by an ”unambiguous … statement that it is a political advertising message” where also: ”The identity of the sponsor of the political advertising message and, where applicable, the entity ultimately controlling the sponsor” is stated.
Due to the new EU regulation, Facebook owner Meta introduced a ban on political advertising on its platforms on October 1. The new strict regulation was simply considered too difficult to implement.
However, this does not prevent the Social Democrats from continuing to buy advertising on Facebook through AiP Media Produktion, thereby circumventing Meta’s ban and EU legislation. As recently as Monday, the Social Democrats had active paid campaigns for the site Morgon-tidningen on Meta’s platforms.
Morgon-tidningen is one of the sites included in the Social Democratic troll environment. Even though it does not itself classify as a troll factory according to the party’s definition, it is the Social Democrats who are behind the site, and the political advertising regulation also applies to it.
”We do not spread white power propaganda”
The Social Democrats have recently faced growing criticism, even from so-called established media, for their troll factories. On Monday, TV4 reports that the Social Democrats ”circumvent Meta’s ad ban”, and last week, Magdalena Andersson was questioned by Expressen about the party’s social media accounts with ”deliberately unclear” senders.
However, she does not agree that the party hides who is behind the Facebook pages, as it is possible to find out that they are run by AiP Media Produktion and that the company is owned by the party.
– It is completely open that there are a number of accounts being run, and that they are linked to the Social Democrats, she tells Expressen.
Furthermore, the Social Democratic leader argues, there is a difference between the political mockery that the Social Democrats engage in, compared to what is spread by the Sweden Democrats.
– We do not spread white power propaganda, says Magdalena Andersson.
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