False claims about Swedish Liberal leader spread by anonymous Chinese account

A viral Chinese-language social media post containing false accusations against Liberal Party leader Simona Mohamsson has been shared hundreds of thousands of times across multiple platforms, according to an investigation by Swedish public broadcaster SVT.

The anonymous account “Truth Bridge” on X, which claims to be run by a former long-term resident of Germany, posted a series of unfounded claims about Mohamsson, including allegations that she had “forced Islam on Swedish children” during her time as education minister. The post, originally in Chinese, was later picked up and translated into other languages, spreading to hundreds of thousands of users.

The account, which is active despite X being blocked in China, frequently posts about Muslims and has repeatedly targeted Sweden. In one tweet, it listed “Muslims in the Swedish government,” featuring photos of Romina Pourmokhtari (L), Parisa Liljestrand (M), and Simona Mohamsson (L).

SVT’s fact-checking unit confirmed that all accusations against Mohamsson are false. Liberal Party representative Gulan Avci (L) addressed the claims in a post on X, stating: “Tweets like this show how quickly disinformation can spread on X and how it can seriously impact elections, parties, and individual politicians. The lies being spread about Liberal Party leader Simona Mohamsson are, of course, untrue.”

The “Truth Bridge” account initially had a different focus before shifting to its current anti-Muslim and anti-Swedish content.