Response to interpellation 2023/24:758 on the LVU campaign
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns a disinformation campaign regarding LVU. M argues that the campaign has caused serious consequences such as threats against social workers and risks for children 1. M emphasizes that the government is working to strengthen trust in social services, strengthen the criminal protection for staff, and strengthen the image of Sweden 1 2. M considers it extremely serious that the campaign harms Swedish democracy and that all democratic parties must take responsibility 3. S argues that the government should confront the Sverigedemokraterna to investigate their participation in the campaign 4 5. S considers it remarkable that a parliamentary party actively fueled an Islamist campaign 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! Gustaf Lantz has asked me if I have ensured that the Sweden Democrats have not actively participated in the LVU campaign that has put social workers in danger and hindered the social services' work in helping children who are suffering.
Everyone who works politically or in other ways participates in opinion-forming has a great responsibility to, based on our extensive and constitutionally protected freedom of expression and information, contribute to objectivity and clarity regarding messages and senders. This applies regardless of in which forums the debate is conducted, but it is of course particularly important in social media. The information that has emerged is serious, and Sverigedemokraterna must answer the question.
Since December 2021, disinformation has been spread that Swedish social services take into care Muslim children without legal support. The consequences of this are very serious. Social services employees have been threatened, and there has been and remains a risk that children in Sweden do not receive the support from society to which they are entitled.
The Swedish Security Service has additionally made the assessment that the disinformation, through its international dissemination, has contributed to reinforcing the image of Sweden as Islamophobic, which in turn has affected the terror threat against Sweden.
The government has taken a number of measures to ensure that children and young people receive the protection and support they need, but also so that employees within social services can perform their work in a safe manner.
The National Board of Health and Welfare has been commissioned in 2022 and 2023 to develop proposals for measures to long-term strengthen trust in social services among children, young people, and families who need support and help. The National Board of Health and Welfare shall maintain an ongoing dialogue with civil society organizations, religious communities, and other actors regarding the social services' work with children, young people, and families. The purpose is to reach out with information also on social media to counter the spread of rumors and disinformation about the social services' work. The assignment shall be final reported on 10 December 2026.
The government has also worked to strengthen the criminal law protection for journalists and certain other socially useful functions, which also includes social services personnel. The legislative changes began to apply on 1 August 2023.
In September 2023, the government commissioned the Swedish National Agency for Education to map out and analyze how the so-called LVU campaign has affected and continues to affect the school system. The Swedish National Agency for Education shall also provide examples of cooperation between school, social services, and police, as well as other successful interventions where the school system has contributed or contributes to countering the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories. The assignment shall be reported by November 29, 2024, at the latest.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister for Social Affairs and I have a fine tradition: not to engage in unnecessary bickering here in the chamber. I also think that the concrete answer I have received to my question confirms this.
We agree that the campaign directed against Swedish social services from a foreign power with Islamist interests has increased the risk of terrorist attacks, exposed social workers to danger, and hindered help for children who are suffering. We also agree on the seriousness of the reports that SD registered website addresses targeting people of Arabic origin. In the Kalla facts review, we heard how staff at SD's communications department mentioned these websites when the LVU campaign was under discussion.
Madam Speaker! The Minister for Social Services gives me a straight and honest answer in that she has not ensured that SD has not participated actively in the campaign against Swedish social services. She is equally clear in that she also does not intend to do so. I asked the same question to our Prime Minister, who also referred to SD with the addition that for his part, he had no idea whether the party had participated actively in the LVU campaign.
If the government now considers it fully possible that the Sweden Democrats fueled the LVU campaign, I find it difficult to understand the reluctance to confront the party with questions to clarify how things actually stand. I do not see it as an internal matter for SD. It is not about what happened at their parliamentary office during a staff party, but it is about what has happened across Sweden for social workers and vulnerable children. But it is also about how it has affected Swedes in the world.
In Belgium, Swedes wearing national team jerseys were killed by an Islamist terrorist who, according to the country's authorities, had been radicalized. He followed an anti-Swedish account on social media, which among other things shared conspiracy theories that Swedish social services kidnap children.
Madam Speaker! I want to know why the government does not want to ask relevant questions to SD. Is it because the answer does not matter? Will it be business as usual regardless of the answer? Or is it not asked because there is a risk of receiving an answer that would make it impossible to continue providing SD with information and influence, as it is today?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member, for these questions! Yes, it is indeed important to note that the disinformation campaign is constantly in the background and ticking. According to the latest information I have, it is currently low-intensity. But at any moment, for example, a new film could appear on TikTok that causes this to flare up again.
This has had very difficult consequences. In my travels across the country, I constantly encounter social services that highlight this as an extremely complicating circumstance for their work in reaching out. The fear that has established itself has made the work much more difficult.
There may have always been a certain stigma linked to the social services. It is a stigma that I know both the member and I are warmly committed to bridging, so that the social services can be the fantastic part of society that it is intended to be. It should be there, when life may in periods be a bit tougher and one needs an extra effort from society.
There has, therefore, always been a certain stigma when it comes to reaching out to the social services, but this has been radically complicated by the disinformation campaign.
This is difficult. It is about the fact that one cannot reach out with trust, but it is also about pure threat situations for our social secretaries. And in a time when we need to have more social secretaries on site to work with these issues, it is naturally a difficulty in itself.
Just as the member raised, and as I also raised in my response, this is also a threat to the democracy that we both warmly cherish. And most seriously of all, it is naturally the fact that there are a number of children in our country right now who are not receiving the help and support they need.
When Akademikerförbundet SSR conducted an anonymous member survey even before the start of 2022, when this disinformation campaign deepened and intensified, 7 percent of the members stated that they had not provided care due to fear of what they themselves would be subjected to. We therefore know that there are children and young people, perhaps the most vulnerable in Sweden, who have not received this support, because from the social services' side, they have not dared to provide it.
The new government entered the Government Offices in October 2022. Unfortunately, we were met with a situation where there was no cohesive work around these issues. In my capacity as Minister for Social Services, I have devoted a great deal of time over more than a year and a half to ensuring that we have authorities, departments, and various types of organizations that have the right mandate and are now also working collectively to push this back.
If there had been a coherent effort early on, it would not have had to go this far regarding this situation. It is not my conclusion, but it is the conclusion from all the authorities that we are currently working very intensively with. Because there has been a lack of a mandate to work coherently to counter this, we have not been able to counter it early enough.
So, a great responsibility falls on many in the democratic system, including a number of different parties.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Madam Speaker! I agree with exactly everything that the Minister for Social Services says. I do not only agree. I am also very grateful for the commitment that the Minister for Social Services shows but also the work that the government as a whole has initiated in this area - it is excellent.
But that is not the answer to my question. I thought of when my mother was going to start shopping for groceries online during the pandemic. She was going to buy salmon and received laxatives, Microlax. A bit like that it feels now, when I receive something completely different than what this question period is supposed to be about.
My question concerns the government base's responsibility for having participated in a campaign that has put Swedes in danger, children and others, and which has increased the threat of terrorism.
I have no opportunity to ask questions directly to SD, which is what the Prime Minister asked me to do and what the Minister for Social Services has asked me to do. I do not have that opportunity here in the chamber.
It has been announced that this question period would take place. SD members have been free to sign up for it, but no one has done so. We have not received any answer in the newspaper. We have not received any answer in Jimmie Åkesson's speech to the nation. If anyone is to take political responsibility for this campaign, it will therefore be the government. When it comes to the LVU campaign, it is then natural that I address the Minister for Social Services.
I think it is particularly serious when we see tendencies that this is part of a larger political method. SD's Kent Ekeroth had a great involvement in Paludan's Quran-burning tour. After the election, he wrote proudly: The Quran riots did their job - dream team.
This is an example of how one applies this political method: One creates dangers out in society in order to then spread their message of division.
As I said, this is a much larger issue than a single party's internal affairs. I mean that someone must be able to take political responsibility, and there is no one who has a better entry point to the Sweden Democrats than the government. You have built up a parallel organization within Rosenbad's shell protection, where politics is coordinated and information is shared. That is where the discussions should be taken.
It is also worrying to think that this information is being shared. Has sensitive information and intelligence data been shared regarding the government's work against the LVU campaign and how those types of campaigns evoke strong emotions that actors in Sweden and abroad can exploit to divide and polarize, and which poses further danger for Swedes in Sweden and abroad as well as for children and social workers?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! I want to begin by saying that I strongly condemn various kinds of forces that cause division and insecurity in our country and also outside the country. From our foreign missions, I have learned how the situation has significantly deteriorated regarding the security situation, and I have also heard them describe how domestic staff are being influenced to stop working for the Swedish state due to this situation.
I react with disgust but also with a strong sense of agency every time I hear this. We are now working practically in a number of different ways to take exactly that responsibility that Gustaf Lantz demands in order to ensure that we build up a new security. We are working with parameters that concern strengthening the foreign defense but also for strengthening the image of Sweden even within the country.
Who ever thought that we would need to work to strengthen the image of Sweden within our own country? Sweden has, from an international perspective, had a very high level of trust, not least when it comes to safety around children. It is also something that I try to use in international contexts. Having to inform that the LVU legislation is not a penal law for adults but a protective law for children is now a very important and fundamental part of that work.
I would not have thought that, and I had hoped that it would not have to happen. But if the member is worried that the government is not taking responsibility in this regard, I want to say that I am just one of all the ministers who are working very focusedly towards this. I can mention that the Foreign Minister's work is a very important part of this. Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin is another person I want to highlight in this context, as well as Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation Johan Forssell.
These are important issues where we collectively take responsibility for Sweden's role and Sweden's reputation. It is clear that Member Lantz has the opportunity to take a reply to a Sverigedemokrat in the next debate in the chamber and ask the question directly. Those opportunities are provided in the chamber. I can also assure the Member that there is, of course, a dialogue within the governing parties and with the support party Sverigedemokraterna regarding how we can further strengthen the work for increased protection and increased security.
The information that has emerged is serious, and the Sweden Democrats have a responsibility both towards the government parties and towards the general public to answer these questions. However, the responsibility to answer falls very heavily on the Sweden Democrats.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Madam Speaker! I still do not think I am getting any answer to the question at all. It is roughly as if I were to discuss infiltration and the serious leaks within the police with a police officer, and the police would then account for the important work they do to fight crime out in society. They are two different questions.
This is about how one ensures that, internally in the government's work, at the highest political level where many sensitive tasks are handled, it is ensured that a party that has participated actively in the LVU campaign and put Swedes in Sweden and outside Sweden in danger is not involved.
This is particularly important in the time we live in. I saw Gunnar Strömmers press conference yesterday regarding the very serious situation that criminal gangs in Sweden have allied themselves with foreign security services that drive an Islamist agenda. It is the time we live in, and social media and the internet are part of this. We must hold together in Sweden across all parties to hedge our bets in times of uncertainty and do exactly everything we can to not let this poison inside the walls of Rosenbad or anywhere else.
I think it is highly remarkable if a parliamentary party, through its communications department, has participated in and actively fueled an Islamist campaign staged by a foreign power. We must get to the bottom of this, and it is the government that has the power to put pressure behind the questions to the Sweden Democrats.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! Thanks to Gustaf Lantz for another one of our interpellation debates which is not only conducted in a very fine tone but also with a genuine commitment to the best interests of Sweden and Sweden's children!
What is happening is extremely serious. The information that has emerged is very grave, because this disinformation campaign damages Swedish democracy deeply and at its core. There, I fully share the member's view that it is important that all information that should come to light also does so.
It is important that one answers questions, that one is transparent and that all parties take responsibility. I also have a clear and distinct responsibility when Moderate representatives express things that, in this case, undermine the social services' ability to perform its important work.
That is why it is important that we do a number of things, which we are doing. We have ensured various types of legislation that shall protect social services employees, and we are now implementing a long series of legislations to strengthen the protection of children.
Ultimately, however, this is about all parties that want to call themselves democratic having to take a deep responsibility to ensure that the fine democracy we live in can also continue to be just that.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.