Sweden returns to Cold War tactics to fight fake news Sweden
A top official from Sweden’s new agency for “psychological defense” said that the country had decided to take back the Cold War government body in the midst of fear of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Magnus Hjort, deputy director of the agency, which was re-established last month to combat foreign disinformation, said that concerns were particularly heightened ahead of Sweden’s general election in September, given Europe’s “deteriorating security situation”.
Tensions are rising in the region following Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine’s border, prompting discussions on whether Sweden and Finland, which are not members of NATO, should join the military alliance. Last month, Sweden strengthened its military presence on the strategically important island of Gotland, in the Baltic Sea.
While Hjort said that there was no immediate threat to Sweden, he warned: “We can not rule out that Sweden may be attacked.”
The previous iteration of the agency was closed down in 2008, but much of it was wound up years earlier after the end of the Cold War. While the new agency has existed since 2016, Hjort said that the recent Russia / Ukraine crisis has put Sweden on alert for the election.
– It may mean that security and defense become more important in the election, and it may mean that it may be more interesting for a foreign power to influence how people vote – to ensure that Sweden takes “the right measures” in how a foreign power sees it , he said. “So there may be a greater interest in influencing the parliamentary elections. It is possible because of the security situation in Europe right now. “
The Swedish Psychological Defense Authority’s mission, which has about 45 employees and is expected to grow, is to “protect our open and democratic society, the free formation of opinion and Sweden’s freedom and independence”.
Referring to the 2016 US election and the attempts to disrupt the 2017 election in France – which last year started a similar agency to combat foreign misinformation and fake news – Hjort said as an example: “Authoritarian states have for several years tried to influence the election. The difference today is that through social media you have better opportunities to influence people. That is why we need to have the capacity to monitor for interference in our democracy. “
The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 prompted Sweden to begin rebuilding its “total defense,” which combines military, civilian and psychological security, he said. “What we have seen lately is that the security situation has deteriorated in our part of the world. It has become more tense. “
Deteriorating relations in Europe have shown how disinformation and disruption are an “important part of the toolbox that authoritarian states use to achieve their goals,” he said.
He added: “We must have something to analyze, identify this and to be able to counteract it and that is why we are now establishing a psychological defense authority in Sweden.”
Although the election will be one of its most important tasks this year, the agency is intended to show a long-term commitment to “strengthen the resilience of the population”, including across government agencies and municipalities to identify interference by foreign states in freedom of opinion and expression .
“Conflicts between states will exist after this year as well,” he said. But he added: “This year can be particularly nasty and difficult.”
Social media, said Hjort, has dramatically changed the nature of psychological defense, which makes Sweden “more vulnerable”.
While he said that social media companies “could always do more” to protect against foreign intervention, psychological defense also lies in the fact that individual citizens are aware that they may be exposed to the influence of foreign powers.
Mats Engström, a guest fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that other Swedish authorities were already working in the field, but the creation of the psychological defense agency was “a further step in the face of increasing threats ”.
He said that Russian propaganda has referred to Sweden negatively in recent years, including in issues such as immigration, but that the fears of influence that affect the 2018 election do not seem to be realized.
There were, he said, concerns about how the new agency could affect freedom of expression. “It will have to tread very carefully on controversial issues so as not to create the impression that the state is trying to stifle critical opinions. Although it says in the instruction that the new authority should promote freedom of expression, the line is not easy to draw.”