Flashback CEO Acquitted on Hate Speech Charges: Dagens industri Reports

Jan Axelsson, founder and CEO of the online forum Flashback, has been acquitted by the Stockholm District Court of charges related to failing to remove hate speech from the platform. Prosecutors alleged Axelsson was grossly negligent in his duties under Swedish law regarding electronic bulletin board responsibility, specifically for not deleting criminal messages. The indictment focused on twelve posts, published between October 2022 and February 2023, considered to be incitement against an ethnic group. These posts, containing calls to violence and offensive slurs, remained visible on Flashback for up to a year, despite violating the platform's content moderation policies. Axelsson denied the charges throughout the proceedings. He testified that Flashback's team of roughly 100 moderators removed approximately 750,000 posts during the relevant period. Axelsson argued that the platform relies on user reports and that reported posts of this nature are promptly removed. He asserted the platform's commitment to addressing this issue, stating that incitement against ethnic groups is handled with particular diligence. Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of the defense, leading to Axelsson's acquittal.