For a long time, Mullvad VPN stood as the embodiment of a perfect privacy-focused company. From innovative features and data minimization to responsible marketing, Mullvad checked every box that mattered. It almost appeared that the company was immune to criticism.
The recent revelation that Mullvad’s other CEO Daniel Berntsson had donated 5 million SEK to an ethnonationalist Örebro Party shattered the image of a flawless company.
The donation had crossed the line of what many people are willing to tolerate. It felt infuriating knowing that a part of my subscription money had helped this political party to exist in its current form. This single donation accounted for 72% of the party’s income in 2025.
While personal matters should remain private, Berntsson’s donation is relevant since it funds politics that go against the whole ethos of Mullvad. On its website, Mullvad discusses its ideals of “a free and open society,” but that’s not what the Örebro Party wants. By embracing remigration, it wishes to build a society where anyone who doesn’t look like your stereotypical white Swedish person gets exported out of the country. To quote the party leader Markus Allard: "Sweden belongs to the Swedes. We have to make sure that we take care of our own damn people and we must deport these damn parasites who sit and live at our expense."
Mullvad has failed to understand how problematic the donation is, which became apparent from the statement it has been pushing on social media.
What’s noteworthy about the message is that Mullvad presents itself as a company involved in politics, which is a reality people don’t always understand or want to accept.
The decision to give a refund to anyone who wants it is also the right thing to do, but it does contradict Mullvad’s normal policy regarding refunds. Nevertheless, I received my money from the remaining time, even though I had paid with Monero.
I’m less thrilled about how Mullvad portrays Berntsson’s donation as free speech that has nothing to do with Mullvad. As if it isn’t a problem that their CEO is supporting policies that go against everything that Mullvad stands for as a company. I don’t see how Berntsson can stay as the co-CEO of Mullvad.
I’m not the only one who has been disappointed. Pushback from the users has been vigorous, and some of Mullvad’s employees are considering leaving the company. I cannot blame them.
Critics have accused people of overreacting and argued that this incident doesn’t matter. I will now go through these arguments and offer my response.
Of course it matters. It’s the same problem if the CEO of a solar energy company donated money to a political party promoting the use of fossil fuels.
While the consequences for the product may not be in sight, it is likely that Mullvad loses talented people because of this. The damage to its reputation can also affect its partnerships.
People should understand that there are more ways to evaluate products than staring at technical specs and ignoring everything else.
It isn’t always possible or practical to jump ship after every controversy, but we can still voice our disapproval. In this case, the switch is simple: Mullvad isn’t the only privacy-respecting VPN provider on the market, and not all VPN CEOs are donating money to harmful causes.
Believe it or not but people can stand behind their moral values without ulterior motives.
Since I was already familiar with the VPN landscape, I only had a few options to consider.
I was reluctant to increase my reliance on Proton, as I have discussed in my recent article.
I’m neither a fan of its pricing, where you’re almost forced to commit to the multi-year deal as the monthly plan is so expensive. It’s interesting how Proton’s VPN service is the biggest culprit of this practice when compared to its other products.
I also feel that in recent years, Proton VPN hasn’t improved much on the privacy front. The larger server network and streaming support are nice to have, but they shouldn’t be Proton’s main focus. The macOS kill switch issue is something I cannot ignore, and it’s one of the biggest reasons I ruled out Proton.
Windscribe is a VPN service that many recommend in privacy circles, but the more I looked at it, the less impressed I was. You can have many opinions about the provocative marketing that leans to the SEO territory, but when a company goes to social media to insult other people, I’m left wondering what’s wrong with the people there.
It also had a severe security-related incident in 2021 when it came to light that Windscribe hadn’t encrypted its Ukrainian servers. While it was transparent about the issue and has improved its security since, other privacy-focused providers haven’t made similar blunders.
The final nail in the coffin was Windscribe’s decision to start writing blog posts with AI. In a world full of AI-generated content, I certainly don’t need more of that from a VPN company. In the end, Windscribe wasn’t a company I wanted to support.
After investigating and considering my needs, I settled on IVPN, which has an excellent reputation and reminds me of Mullvad. Its strong ethics have always impressed me, and it was about time I rewarded that. The experience has been great.
The lack of split tunneling on macOS seemed like a deal-breaker, but after thinking about it, I realized I haven’t used the feature in months, even when it was available on Mullvad.
VPN blocking issues are still common, but it’s an issue that haunts every VPN provider and varies between servers.
While I still consider Mullvad the market leader regarding innovative privacy features, IVPN nails the most critical feature: trust. Because of this, IVPN has taken the top spot on my list of privacy-focused VPN providers.
There is a way for Mullvad to get itself out of this mess and regain people’s trust. It needs to get rid of Berntsson. I’m willing to consider returning in the future if this happens, but I’m not holding my breath. 🌔
Source: Hacker News — This article was automatically imported from the source. Read full article at original source →
