Claims of election fraud have appeared in connection with a number of national elections in recent years, even in countries that have generally been considered as democratic role models. The spread of disinformation regarding elections can lead to an erosion of trust for the process of electing democratic leaders, and can also be indicative of declining trust in the entire political system and its institutions, posing a challenge for a cohesive, democratic society(Berlinski et al., 2023).

The Nordic countries are not exempt from seeing a claims of election fraud and other types of disinformation proliferate in connection with elections appear in recent years (see e.g.Akerbæk & Skiphamn, 2021; Kaati & Shrestha, 2023; Runge, 2019). Yet in the context of disinformation about elections, even specifically claims of fraud, the issue in the Nordics pales in comparison to that of in other countries. In the U.S. for example, accusations of election misconduct are not new (Filindra et. al., 2023), but erupted most dramatically after the 2020 election. The highly publicized events of January 6th, 2021 made it clear that a large number of individuals believed very strongly in a conspiracy having taken place that had caused former President Donald Trump to lose the election.

Based upon developments in recent years, experiences in the Nordics and the U.S. in the context of online narratives of election fraud thus seem like polar opposites. However, online narratives and conspiracies proliferate online without regard for national borders. Extreme platforms where such conspiracies are spread are frequented by different kinds of users from different parts of the world, and can even end up appearing in far more mainstream settings (e.g. Åkerlund, 2021). This paper aims to examine the phenomenon of a form of conspiracy contamination across national borders, where an online narrative regarding elections beingrigged spreads from one national context to a wholly different one. The case under examination is Sweden and the study comprises the last two national elections, i.e., 2018 and 2022, in order to see any kind of effect of the U.S. conspiracy narrative regarding the election on Swedish online discussions. The platforms that will be examined are Flashback and 4chan.

Covert online operations aiming to affect another country’s election and overall political stability constitute a serious threat to liberal democracies. Sweden and other Nordic countries have fared relatively well in this regard, yet research shows how mere exposure to different types of accusations of elections being rigged can have negative effects on voters’ faith in democratic norms (Albertson & Guiler, 2020). The study highlights the importance of domestic discussions being open to foreign influence, even though no efforts of organized election interference are carried out.