''Fria Tider'' (''Free Times'') is a Swedish-language right-wing populist

news site An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, combining social and computer science to explore information, communication, and technology. It is an integral part of the University of Oxford's Social Science ...

's Project on

Computational Propaganda Computational propaganda is the use of computational tools (algorithms and automation) to distribute misleading information using social media networks. The advances in digital technologies and social media resulted in enhancement in methods of pro ...

identified "Fria Tider" as one of the three primary "junk news" sources in Sweden. Analysis by

Swedish Defence University The Swedish Defence University (, FHS) is situated on Drottning Kristinas väg 37 in Östermalm, Stockholm City Centre, next to the campus of the Royal Institute of Technology. History Today's Swedish Defence University marks the latest devel ...

lists Fria Tider as having the highest proportion of disinformation among Swedish sources. Fria Tider actively promotes Kremlin narratives and content by

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...

, a Russian propaganda outlet. Fria Tider is known to promote views in favor or

Russian invasion of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrain ...

and Russian war against Ukraine. Research by

Swedish Defence Research Agency The Swedish Defence Research Agency (, FOI; literal translation: ''Total Defence Research Institute'') is a government agency in Sweden for total defence research and development. FOI has its headquarters in Kista (Stockholm). Other FOI offic ...

concluded that news by Fria Tider are much more frequently shared by

Twitter bot A Twitter bot or an X bot is a type of software bot that controls a Twitter/X account via the Twitter API. The social bot software may autonomously perform actions such as tweeting, retweeting, liking, following, unfollowing, or direct messagin ...

s, compared to news from other sources. An analysis of 12 million online links made by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

concluded that a lot of Fria Tider's traffic is generated by non-Swedish sites.

References

External links

Official site
{{Sweden-newspaper-stub Swedish news websites 2009 establishments in Sweden Conservatism in Sweden Newspapers established in 2009 Internet properties established in 2009 Swedish-language newspapers Daily newspapers published in Sweden Libertarian publications Paleoconservative publications Long stubs with short prose