Flashback Founder Faces Trial

Jan Axelsson, CEO and founder of Flashback, is facing trial. He is suspected of violating the so-called BBS law after failing to timely delete twelve posts that may constitute hate speech.

"Goat-f***er" and "plague-infected" are some of the terms used in the posts. If Axelsson is convicted, he risks daily fines, as the prosecutor demands.

The trial began on Wednesday at the Stockholm District Court. Axelsson is charged with violating the law on responsibility for electronic bulletin boards, also known as the BBS law.

A complainant reported a total of 47 posts, published between October 2022 and February 2023, to the police, claiming they constituted crimes. Twelve of these posts are now the basis for the suspicions against Axelsson, as they contain racist content that may incite hate against ethnic groups.

The posts were written by other users on Flashback.

"We will one day get rid of the multicultural plague," writes a user in one such post.

In another, it states:

"Somalis seem to be so slow. Especially the women. They waddle forward at a snail's pace. It's difficult with this lack of energy when working as a cleaner. It's not laziness. It's inability and slowness."

Prosecutor: "Grossly Negligent"

Flashback often profiles itself as a forum where freedom of speech is highly valued. However, there are several rules, including a ban on hate speech in posts published there. Hundreds of moderators work voluntarily on the forum to remove inappropriate posts and warn users who risk breaking the rules.

As CEO of the platform, Jan Axelsson, according to prosecutor Lucas Eriksson, is responsible for ensuring that illegal posts do not remain on the forum. According to the prosecutor, Axelsson has grossly neglected his duty to do so.

In court, Eriksson states that the current control functions on Flashback, with moderators and the ability for users to report posts, have not been sufficient.

"I find it very difficult to see how one could not find some of these posts if everything that should have been done was done. Especially since some of the threads themselves, just by their titles, invite racist comments," he says.

The penalty should be daily fines, argues Lucas Eriksson.

Axelsson: "No Doubt"

Axelsson himself claims he had not seen the posts until the police brought them to his attention, and that he then removed them. He denies any wrongdoing.

"Hate speech is prohibited on Flashback. Had these posts been reported to us, they would have been deleted immediately. There was no doubt that these posts violated our rules," he says when questioned in court.

A four-digit number of posts are deleted daily by Flashback's moderators, according to Axelsson. A large portion of them are discovered through user reports.

Defense: "Flashback is a Safety Valve"

Axelsson's defense attorney, Nils Hillert, describes the case as a crucial trial for Flashback.

"This is a very important test for Flashback. The court's assessment is central to how far the control responsibility extends," he says in his opening statement in court.

He describes the forum as a "safety valve" for democratic society.

"The idea of the forum is that ideas, which are sometimes extreme, should be met with arguments instead of thriving in secrecy."

The complaint made to the police does not seem to have been made to remove the posts, but rather as a way to create problems for Flashback and Jan Axelsson, the defense argues.

The verdict will be announced on October 1.