Political scientist: Gives foreign power an opportunity to act

Actually, Emma Ricknell had no thought of studying digital activism in this year's election. She is a political scientist at Linnaeus University in Växjö and during the election years 2018 and 2022 she plowed page after page on internet forums such as Flashback, Reddit and 4chan about alleged election fraud.

The large number of reports of suspected electoral fraud after this year's election made her change her mind.

- Page after page is about how to appeal the election to the Electoral Review Board, including instructions on using AI to write it, says Emma Ricknell and continues:

- It's also quite exciting and "now we're doing this" and then someone comes back and writes: "Now I've appealed".

It is about digital activism – not about a well-organized and planned campaign, she emphasizes.

- But people are on these platforms and sometimes a temporary movement is created, she says.

It is difficult to talk about the subject of election fraud without mentioning the United States. Emma Ricknell highlights an example of a digital campaign about election fraud in the USA called "Stop the Steal". The campaign has its own hashtags and was formed organically as an online group. Columns have been written and documentaries made about the phenomenon.

- The group undermines trust in our democratic institutions. Here, people have used their democratic right to appeal an election, she says.

There are actors who benefit from this type of activism.

- As influencers and others who profit from getting a lot of clicks or views on their videos.

But there is also a more serious side to activism that creates opportunities for foreign power to act.

- This creates a narrative that can be exploited by a foreign power that wants to create disorder in society. It helps people stop trusting each other and become more open to influence. It is possible to exploit such cracks that arise in a democratic society, says Emma Ricknell.

Allegations and spreading of rumors about electoral fraud will not disappear until the next election, she believes.

- The gaps in knowledge about how the election works are a driving factor.