As a private individual, you have an important role to play in Sweden’s psychological defence. Here, you will find information about your responsibility and why antagonistic foreign powers want to try to influence you specifically.

You are a part of psychological defence

There are antagonistic foreign powers deliberately using disinformation, misleading information and propaganda with the intention of harming Sweden and Swedish interests. They seek to cause division by influencing what you think, what you do and the decisions you make. Information influence campaigns are used in peacetime and in war, with the aim of influencing authorities, regions, municipalities and companies – and, you too as a citizen.

Psychological defence is society’s common capabilities for identifying and resisting malign information influence. You are a part of psychological defence and we all have a responsibility to protect our country, irrespective of our background or origin. By improving your knowledge of psychological defence and malign information influence, you reduce the risk of being influenced which, in turn, bolsters our society and thus protects Sweden.

It is important to be critical of sources

Disinformation relies on people disseminating it further. This can happen online, for example, or by talking to each other. Information on the internet can be disseminated rapidly, and sometimes this is done through fake accounts with the purpose of influencing what we think. It can be difficult to know whether the information being disseminated is true, so it is important that we are critical of sources and evaluate the information before spreading it further.

Psychological defence comprises each and every one of us, and our ability to be critical of sources. It is this ability that is our resilience, and we all have a personal responsibility to evaluate information and think before we share.

The purpose of influencing you

Antagonistic foreign powers exploit society’s vulnerabilities to create instability. They want people in Sweden to feel worried, come into conflict with each other and feel that Sweden is a bad country to live in. If we feel that Sweden is a bad country, our confidence in the state and authorities in Sweden diminishes. This division causes us to question our society and our fundamental values, such as democracy, rule of law and human rights. When Sweden is vulnerable, it will be easier for antagonistic foreign powers to harm our country.