Sverigedemokraterna (SD – Sweden Democrats)

EU RANK: 182 (Tier 5: High Risk)

Sverigedemokraterna is a social conservative party on a nationalist foundation, according to its own principle programme. Led by Jimmie Åkesson, the party achieved its strongest-ever Riksdag result in 2022 with 20.54% (73 seats), before declining to 13.17% (3 seats) in the 2024 European Parliament elections. Since 2022, SD has been outside cabinet but serves as a parliamentary support and cooperation partner for the Moderate-led government under the Tidö Agreement framework, giving it significant policy leverage over immigration, crime, and welfare policy despite holding no ministerial portfolios. The party has roots in the far right, though it has formally sought to distance itself from that heritage over two decades.

Disinformation and alternative media

Sverigedemokraterna operates the most extensive party-affiliated media infrastructure of any Swedish parliamentary party. This includes SD-Kuriren (a party newspaper), Samtiden (a cultural and political magazine), and Riks, a digital broadcast-style channel distributed primarily via YouTube that functioned as a significant campaign vehicle in 2022. Research describes Riks as blending news and opinion formats to benefit the party’s policy positions. In 2024, TV4’s investigative programme Kalla Fakta revealed that SD operatives ran a coordinated network of anonymous troll accounts designed to smear political opponents, with posts accumulating over 27 million views. The investigation described a dynamic resembling a party “troll factory” and provoked parliamentary debate and condemnation from Swedish journalist unions. Alternative media outlets that consistently amplify far-right narratives — including Samhällsnytt and Nya Dagbladet — have been documented as aligned with SD messaging; both outlets have faced legal scrutiny for defamation and disinformation. Disinformation and alternative-media DMI risk is high.

Foreign influence and external alignments

Sverigedemokraterna’s European alignments are with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group and, more broadly, with nationalist and right-populist movements across Europe. The party has faced persistent scrutiny over historical and financial ties to far-right networks, though no current hostile foreign-state financing has been formally established. The party’s position on Russia and Ukraine has been more ambivalent than that of other Swedish parliamentary parties; its historical connections to individuals with links to the Russian far right have been subjects of investigative journalism, though without documented active financing relationships. Foreign-influence DMI risk is medium, reflecting the ambiguous foreign-policy positioning and historical network ties rather than current confirmed state-level influence operations.

Media capture, advertising and public service media

Although not holding ministerial office, Sverigedemokraterna’s parliamentary cooperation role under the Tidö Agreement gives it indirect influence over legislation, including the public service framework for 2026–2033. Together with M and KD, SD has formally pressed for recalibrated public service impartiality standards. The party’s own stated narrative — that public service and mainstream media are structurally biased against it, requiring “alternative” channels — provides an ideological basis for continued pressure on PSB governance. The SD troll account operation documented by Kalla Fakta additionally illustrates a willingness to operate outside conventional media channels to shape public information flows. Media-capture, advertising and PSB-control DMI risk is high, reflecting the combination of formal influence through parliamentary cooperation and documented use of covert media manipulation.

Corruption, litigation and institutional integrity

The most concrete legal episode involving an SD-affiliated actor in the recent record is the 2025 conviction of local SD politician Ludvig Andersson for gross fraud, after he submitted false payslips to obtain compensation. Additional high-profile criminal convictions have affected former SD local politicians, including a homicide conviction documented in Swedish public broadcasting, raising persistent questions about the party’s candidate vetting and screening processes. The systematic increase in SD-affiliated lay judge appointments in Swedish courts — documented in 2021–2023 — sparked national concern about judicial independence, as party-appointed lay judges can participate in legal decisions. Corruption and institutional-integrity DMI risk is medium to high, reflecting the gross fraud conviction, the lay judge controversy, and the persistent pattern of serious individual criminal cases involving SD-affiliated politicians.

Press freedom, harassment and treatment of media

Sverigedemokraterna’s troll factory operation — producing anonymous accounts designed to smear political opponents with content generating over 27 million views — represents a documented, systematic effort to harass and discredit individuals through coordinated inauthentic behaviour. The scale and organization of this operation, as revealed by the Kalla Fakta investigation, goes substantially beyond typical political communication. The party’s amplification through aligned outlets including Samhällsnytt and Nya Dagbladet — outlets that have faced defamation prosecutions — adds to the press-freedom risk environment. Press-freedom and harassment DMI risk is high.

Dimension	Risk level	Short justification
Disinformation & alternative media	High	Operates SD-Kuriren, Samtiden, and Riks; documented 2024 troll factory operation (27m+ views); aligned with Samhällsnytt and Nya Dagbladet.
Foreign influence & external alignments	Medium	ECR/right-populist alignments; historical network ties to far-right European actors; ambivalent positioning on Russia; no confirmed state-level financing.
Media capture & advertising / PSB control	High	Parliamentary leverage over PSB mandate design; co-advocates for PSB impartiality recalibration; documented covert information operations alongside formal influence.
Corruption & institutional integrity risk	Medium–High	2025 gross fraud conviction of SD-affiliated politician; lay judge controversy; persistent serious criminal cases among SD-affiliated individuals.
Press freedom & harassment of media	High	Documented coordinated troll operation targeting political opponents; amplification through outlets subject to defamation proceedings.