
Swedish Moderates pull plug on AI site after it sends greetings to Hitler and Idi Amin
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The Moderates launched the tool with the intention that users could send AI messages from Kristersson to encourage others to join the party ahead of the 2026 election.
But the service wasn't given any limitations or filters, which broadcaster TV4 Nyheterna reports generated greetings to dubious figures including German Nazi leader Hitler, former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.
In one video clip, Kristersson is seen talking about the importance of the upcoming election, while holding an AI-generated sign that reads 'We need you, Adolf Hitler'.
Underneath the clip, Hitler is asked if he wants to become their new colleague.
The service was switched off on Thursday.
'It was brought to our attention that it was possible to abuse our new campaign by writing inappropriate names. We therefore shut down the site as soon as we became aware of it,' said operational campaign manager Maria Sognefors.
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She said they were talking with the service provider to understand what went wrong.
'Previous campaigns in the same vein have for example had a blacklist that has prevented this kind of abuse,' Sognefors told TV4 Nyheterna in a message.
'It's sad that there are people who do this kind of thing.'

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Local Sweden
3 days ago
- Local Sweden
Swedish Moderates pull plug on AI site after it sends greetings to Hitler and Idi Amin
When the Moderates set up a new AI tool ahead of the election, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson accidentally sending personal greetings to Adolf Hitler wasn't what they had in mind. Advertisement The Moderates launched the tool with the intention that users could send AI messages from Kristersson to encourage others to join the party ahead of the 2026 election. But the service wasn't given any limitations or filters, which broadcaster TV4 Nyheterna reports generated greetings to dubious figures including German Nazi leader Hitler, former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. In one video clip, Kristersson is seen talking about the importance of the upcoming election, while holding an AI-generated sign that reads 'We need you, Adolf Hitler'. Underneath the clip, Hitler is asked if he wants to become their new colleague. The service was switched off on Thursday. 'It was brought to our attention that it was possible to abuse our new campaign by writing inappropriate names. We therefore shut down the site as soon as we became aware of it,' said operational campaign manager Maria Sognefors. Advertisement She said they were talking with the service provider to understand what went wrong. 'Previous campaigns in the same vein have for example had a blacklist that has prevented this kind of abuse,' Sognefors told TV4 Nyheterna in a message. 'It's sad that there are people who do this kind of thing.'


Local Sweden
4 days ago
- Local Sweden
Swedish minister vows to stay on despite son's links to white supremacist groups
Sweden's migration minister Johan Forssell, whose son was revealed to have links to white supremacist groups and the far-right, said on Thursday morning that he has no plans to step down. Advertisement Forssell has been under intense pressure since it was revealed on Wednesday in Swedish media that he was the minister with a close family member who had links to extremist groups. Speaking to the media for the first time about the scandal that has dominated the headlines in Sweden in recent days, Forssell confirmed in an interview with TV4's morning show Nyhetsmorgon that the family member in question was his 16-year-old son. "I have a very regretful 15-year-old, who just turned 16," he said. "We've spent a lot of time having long, difficult discussions. It has not been easy, but this activity has ended," said the minister from the right-wing Moderates party. "As a father, you're shocked," he said. "You ask yourself the question of what's real and what isn't." But a defiant Forssell told TV4 that he has no plans to step down, and that he will remain migration minister. "I'm going to continue to take responsibility. As a father for my children. I'm fully committed to implementing the policies which the Swedish people have given us support for. I think it's very important that that work continues," he said. Forssell's identity was at first protected by Swedish media when the story first emerged of his son's links to the far-right and white supremacist groups. In order to keep the teenager's identity out of the media news sites only referred to him a close relative of a Swedish minister. READ ALSO: Why are Swedish media suddenly naming Forssell as minister in white supremacism scandal? According to the anti-racist newspaper Expo, which broke the story last week, Forssell's son had 'sought out and joined' some of Sweden's most racist groups, including Det fria Sverige and Aktivklubb Sverige, and collaborated with an activist from the Nordic Resistance Movement, which was classified as a terror group by the US last summer. Forssell confirmed to TV4 that he was contacted by Swedish Security Police, Säpo, a few weeks ago. "I had no idea about any of this when Expo got in touch," he said. Advertisement As Migration Minister, Forssell has often spoken about parental responsibility in discussions about youth violence in society. He has been one of the most outspoken ministers arguing that parents in largely immigrant suburbs are responsible for keeping their children away from gangs. He told TV4 that he still believes parental responsibility is important. "I don't think parental responsibility has become any less important in light of this, the opposite in fact," he said. "I'm completely convinced it is the cornerstone of a good society. But then of course parental responsibility doesn't mean that things always go right. Sometimes they go wrong." "Of course, I wish this situation hadn't happened. I think all parents with children who understand the situation we're in also understand that," Forssell added. TV4 also asked Forssell if he was grateful that Expo had discovered this information about his son. "Yes, I think it's important that these environments are investigated," he said. "I think they're larger than most people understand. These problems must not be allowed to grow larger. My greatest focus is to take control of this situation at home with my child." "I think, though, that a large discussion will come out of this. How many parents know about this situation we're in? I think that's very important," he said. Advertisement On Wednesday, Forssell, was called by the Left Party to appear in front of a parliamentary committee to answer questions about his son's links to white power extremism, which resulted in almost all Swedish media, including The Local, revealing his identity. Initially the minister had refused to respond to Expo's story, only issuing an anonymised statement to the Swedish news agency TT via the prime minister's press secretary TV4 asked Forssell why he had chosen to step forward a week after Expo published their investigation. "There has been a lot of speculation, and of course this is not a situation you want to be in," he said. "All of this, everything that's happening... honestly, the fact that a minor has their personal details shared all over social media by extremists with very detailed, very threatening information." "In that situation you don't have much choice than to try and be as transparent as you possibly can. But of course, it's not easy when it's not about me as a politician but about my family and my children," he said. The only other government representative to comment on the scandal so far is Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, who refused when approached by public broadcaster SVT last week to even speak about whether or not the (at the time still anonymous) relative's actions could constitute a security risk.


Local Sweden
6 days ago
- Local Sweden
Säpo bodyguards' Strava runs 'reveal locations of Swedish PM and royals'
Bodyguards from the Swedish Security Police (Säpo) have accidentally revealed the location of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and members of the royal family on multiple occasions by uploading runs or rides to the Strava training app, it has been claimed. Advertisement The information was leaked when seven bodyguards uploaded their runs to popular training app Strava, newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) reports. The bodyguards had public accounts on the app and uploaded runs that included maps of routes, the time of day they were carried out and even the pace. This information, the newspaper reports, could in the worst case scenario be used by someone planning an attack on Kristersson to work out his location and address. Strava information has previously been used for this type of attack elsewhere. In 2023, a Russian commander was killed whilst out on a run ‒ his last recorded workout on Strava was 'liked' by the head of Ukraine's military intelligence services. Using the Strava info Dagens Nyheter was able to map Kristersson's location on at least 35 occasions, including discovering the location of his home in Södermanland, which is classified, and the hotel the prime minister and his wife were staying at when on a private trip to Åland. The bodyguards' Strava runs also revealed the location of other officials, like members of the royal family, former prime ministers Magdalena Andersson and Stefan Löfven, and Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson, the newspaper claimed. "This is very serious," security expert Carolina Angelis, who has a background in Swedish intelligence services, told Dagens Nyheter. "Potential threats use all open information which is available to map people and track their movement patterns. If you know that someone always runs on Djurgården on Saturdays at 3pm then it becomes much easier to plan an attack or kidnapping," she said. Advertisement The newspaper collected data on more than 1,400 runs, in Sweden and abroad, which in some cases revealed trips by public officials which had not been made public. Some of the bodyguards recorded runs from within Säpo's headquarters in Solna, providing information on their movements within the classified building. "The information revealed in this investigation is something we take very seriously," Carolina Björnsdotter Paasikivi, Säpo's head of security, told DN. "This is information which could be used to track Security Police activities. We're now investigating what effects this could have had." DN contacted Säpo and alerted them to the leak, giving them three days to fix it. Afterwards, the accounts were closed or made private. Paasikivi added that the agency "has routines for this" but that it appears that they have not been followed in some cases. "We're undertaking measures to make sure our guidelines are followed. Other than that, I can't go into our internal work in more detail other than we are taking measures to make sure it won't happen again."