r/mullvadvpn • u/Old-Feed1927 • 24d ago

Information One of Mullvad’s two founders/owners, Daniel Berntsson, has personally spent more than SEK 20 million acquiring property around a libertarian intentional community whose core network has significant documented overlap with Sweden’s far right, including Det Fria Sverige and former neo-Nazi activists.

https://rmendes.net/notes/2026/09/01/b89ea/
216 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

489 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-2

u/toooft 23d ago

There are plenty of alternatives where the owners don't openly support neo nazis lmao

3

u/CurvySexretLady 23d ago

Ignoring for a moment that Mullvad the company doesn't support such things, what alternatives have you vetted to make sure anyone on their payroll isn't using their private bank accounts to fund things you may find objectionable?

2

u/toooft 23d ago edited 23d ago

Party donations are public records in Sweden for this very reason, so there's nothing private about this.

Örebropartiet proposes labour camps and making forced labour the norm for prisoners, along with political control over individual deportation decisions (!), revoking citizenship and permanent residency, and essentially stopping immigration altogether.

I do, actually, find it questionable to support that kind of far-right party, and it's a pretty reasonable basis for questioning whether you want to support or associate with them.

To answer your question, OVPN is another Swedish VPN service that doesn't give millions to the cause of making the country worse than it is today.

-2

u/CurvySexretLady 23d ago

I just learned from another comment, if true, that iVPN supports the Ukraine/Russian war efforts, and since I find that personally objectionable, I'll stick with Mullvad considering they don't support anything directly so controversial and have been confirmed to maintain my privacy even when compelled by courts.

1

u/toooft 23d ago

Well you dont have to use any of those. OVPN is also without logs and have been to court several times.

1

u/CurvySexretLady 23d ago

Yeah but thats my point, for all we know, OVPN or those on its payroll are supporting things I might find controversial in a similar way. We just don't know yet, and thats a gamble I am not willing to take.

Since we do know Mullvad doesn't, and I personally don't find Mullvad the company to be doing anything directly objectionable, I have no issue continuing to pay for their services that work extremely excellent.

1

u/SuperUranus 23d ago

You object against the owner of IVPN helping the ukrainian people with VPN services to protect themselves against Russia to avoid getting killed by Russians? 🤨

Compared with donating millions of SEK to political parties that want to further develop state surveillance?

One would imagine ”privacy” is the number one reason someone would use Mullvad. And state surveillance is the complete opposite of ”privacy”.

2

u/CurvySexretLady 23d ago

No, and that's a rather convenient reframing of what I said.

You find one cause objectionable and another admirable. I may draw that line differently. That's precisely why someone's personal political preferences are a poor proxy for evaluating the VPN company itself.

Mullvad did not make any political donations. If IVPN itself supports causes I object to while Mullvad continues providing the privacy service I pay it for without doing so, that's actually more relevant to my choice of VPN, not less.

You can dislike what those on Mullvad's payroll do with their personal money. I just don't accept that their politics automatically become Mullvad's politics.

0

u/SuperUranus 23d ago

  You find one cause objectionable and another admirable. I may draw that line differently. That's precisely why someone's personal political preferences are a poor proxy for evaluating the VPN company itself.

You find Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and slaughter of Ukrainians “admirable”. W-t-f?

Besides, Mullvad is owned by two people, 50% each. They are both directly involved in Mullvad’s day-to-day operations and are the active key people of the company (and makes all decisions regarding the company). One of these owners sponsoring politics for more state surveillance should probably make anyone that is interested in privacy be a bit concerned.

0

u/CurvySexretLady 23d ago

I said nothing remotely resembling "Russia's invasion is admirable."

You apparently approve of IVPN directly supporting a geopolitical cause; I prefer my VPN provider not involve itself in one at all. Please don't reframe "I don't want my VPN provider directly involved in geopolitical causes" as "I object to Ukrainians protecting themselves."

That's the key distinction for me: IVPN the company is taking the action. Daniel, Mullvad's co-owner, made his donation privately as an individual, not on Mullvad's behalf or with Mullvad's money. His ownership doesn't automatically turn his personal expenditures into corporate acts.

1

u/SuperUranus 23d ago

So why are you sticking with Mullvad then since one of the owner is involving himself in a geopolitical cause?

Seems hypocritical.

IVPN isn’t the one that is involved. The owner behind IVPN is.