Back to Index of Limits on Freedom of Expression

Sweden protects free speech in its Constitution. However, freedom of the press and freedom of expression may be limited by law. For example, Sweden criminalizes a number of behaviors aimed at groups and individuals, including hate speech (racial agitation), enticement, and defamation.

Disruption of certain public gatherings, such as public deliberations in the Swedish Parliament and religious ceremonies, is also criminalized. In addition, disorderly conduct aimed at aggravating others is criminalized.

Public speech (such as at town halls and demonstrations) may be limited by law. Demonstrations require a prior permit. Police may break up public speeches or other groupings of people if there is a risk to human life or of a disruption to traffic or the immediate surroundings.  

All Swedish broadcasters must apply for a permit to broadcast in Sweden. Broadcaster licenses may be revoked and broadcasters may be fined for violating regulations applicable to them. While foreign media may operate in Sweden, Sweden does not oversee foreign broadcasters that broadcast from abroad to a Swedish audience. For instance, several channels are offered to Swedish viewers from the United Kingdom.

Foreign journalists may receive accreditation from individual institutions and events and may have the same accreditations revoked for misuse.

I. Scope of Protection of Freedom of Speech and the Right to Interrupt Public Speech

A. Constitutional Protection of Free Speech

Sweden protects freedom of speech in its Constitution (Instrument of Government).[1] Freedom of speech is further protected and regulated in two separate constitutional acts—the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression.[2] In addition, freedom of speech is protected in the European Convention on Human Rights.[3] Sweden introduced its first freedom of the press legislation in 1766.[4] The document was adopted by Royal acclamation, and removed the need for publishers to attain preapproval from the King prior to publication.[5] A special Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression covering non-print media was adopted in 1991.[6]

While Swedish law generally protects freedom of expression, there are limits that may be imposed.  For example, the Freedom of the Press Act allows the legislature to regulate press freedom, such as by adopting laws that limit the use of advertisements and criminalize child pornography.[7]

B. Civil Ordinance Rules and Use of Freedom of Speech at Public Gatherings

Peace and order in public places is regulated in the Swedish Civil Ordinance Act.[8] The Civil Ordinance Act applies to public gatherings and seeks to guarantee the safety and security of those present.[9] Public gatherings may not be held in Sweden without a prior permit.[10]  In addition, certain gatherings may be prohibited, either based the gathering’s geographical location or content.[11] Public gatherings may be dissolved if they are disruptive.[12] Previous disruptions at similar events may also be a reason to deny the issuance of a permit for a public event.[13]

1. Application and Permit Requirement

Public gatherings may not be held in Sweden without a prior permit.[14] Applications must be made to the Swedish police.[15] The Police may request that the applicant provide additional information with regard to the event before issuing a permit.[16]

2. Police Rights to Break Up Public Speech Events

The police may dissolve gatherings held without a permit[17] or that are disruptive.[18] The fact that a specific gathering was previously disruptive may be a reason to refuse a permit for a public event.[19] In addition, a public gathering to perform an artistic production or a public event may be dissolved “if the gathering [in itself, or by] the use of sound or in any other way entails considerable disruption of the public order in its immediate surroundings. This does not, however, apply when the gathering is conducted in accordance with an issued permit.”[20] Public gatherings may only be dissolved if a less invasive measure is found ineffective.[21]

C. Criminalized Speech

1. Disruption of Public Deliberation or Public Gatherings

Noise disruption (such as heckling) at a “religious service, marital ceremony, funeral, court proceeding, or other state or municipal meeting, or public deliberation” is a separate crime in Sweden.[22] An example of a disruption of a public deliberation includes hecklers at the Swedish Parliament. Such disruptions are punishable with a fine (böter) or up to six months of imprisonment.[23]

2. Disorderly Conduct

In addition, disorderly conduct (förargelseväckande beteende) intended to aggravate (förarga) people is also criminalized, and punishable with monetary fines.[24] The disorderly conduct provision explicitly includes noise disruptions.[25] To be punishable the person must “make noise in a public place or behave in public in a way that is intended to arouse public anger.”[26]

Disorderly conduct may include expressive conduct like waving a flag with offensive symbols.[27] The crime has a long history and was included in the Criminal Code as early as 1734.[28] As recently as the early 1900s it was also used to sentence persons who voiced opinions that were controversial.[29] This changed when an explicit prohibition on punishing opinions in the 1940s was included in the legislative history to the amendment of the Penal Code, where the legislators explained that it was the behavior not the content of what was said that should be punished.[30] Examples of behavior that has led to convictions include a person who sang and played music in his private home with the windows open in order to disrupt a political meeting that was being held outside his property.[31] Thus, heckling a political group is likely to fall within the constraints of disorderly conduct even if it does not specifically meet the requirements to be deemed disruption of public deliberations and gatherings mentioned above.

3. Racial Agitation

Sweden has criminalized “hate speech” when it amounts to “racial agitation” (hets mot folkgrupp), defined as ”a statement or other message that is spread and disseminated that threatens, or expresses condescension against, an ethnic group or another group of persons based on race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, faith, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity or expression.”[32] The provision only protects the enumerated groups of people, and publication of untrue statements in itself is not considered hate speech. It was first introduced in a government bill in 1944 as a response to racial agitation against Jews.[33]

4. Enticement

Sweden criminalizes enticement (Uppvigling), defined as “orally in front of a public gathering, [or by other means in writing], [trying] to entice others to commit a criminal act, betray a citizenship duty, or disobey a government agency.”[34]

5. Offenses against Individuals

In addition to the specific crimes mentioned above, which target behavior against groups of people, crimes directed at individuals, such as threats (hot),[35] defamation (förtal),[36] and insults (förolämpning)[37] are also criminalized.

The truthfulness or accuracy of an insulting or defamatory statement is generally not a legitimate defense against prosecution for such crimes under Swedish law.[38] Thus, if a truthful statement (e.g., person A has been convicted of rape) is spread with the intent of causing that person harm, or harming his or her standing in society, it is still defamation.[39] However, statements made by the press without the intent to cause another person harm may be excused because they are true if the publication (for instance, of the person’s name) was necessary.[40] These crimes are punishable with a fine or imprisonment of up to six months for insults, and two years for defamatory statements.[41] These crimes can also be committed against a deceased person, provided that it is hurtful to his or her family, or because of the short period of the time that has elapsed since the person’s death.[42]

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II. Control of Foreign Broadcasters Working on Behalf of Foreign Governments

A. Regulation of Broadcasts from and to Sweden

1. Swedish Broadcasters

Swedish TV and radio broadcasters are subject to different rules compared to the printed press (including information published on the internet). Whereas the printed press is governed by the Freedom of the Press Act, broadcasters are covered by the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression.[43] According to the Fundamental Law every Swedish citizen has the right to broadcast and that right may only be limited as further provided for in the Law.[44] The Constitution further provides that such limits may not go beyond what is necessary in a democratic society, and “may never exceed what is necessary in relation to the purpose” nor “extend so far that it constitutes a threat to the free formation of opinion (åsiktsbildningen),” nor may it be “based on political, religious, cultural or other beliefs.”[45]

Radio and TV broadcasts are further regulated in the Radio and TV Act.[46] All broadcasters in Sweden must be registered[47] and those who do not register are subject to a fine.[48] The Swedish Government must approve any sound recording (radio) that wants to be sent abroad.[49]

Compliance with the Radio and TV Act is overseen by the Swedish Press and Broadcasting Authority (Myndigheten för Press, TV, och Radio, MPTR).[50] The MPTR does not regulate broadcasts made from abroad. The current allocation of permits to broadcast in Sweden using the Swedish ground network will expire on March 31, 2020; new application procedures are expected to be announced in the fall of 2019.[51]

2. EU Broadcasters

In accordance with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive,[52] broadcasters located in another EU Member State may broadcast programs to Swedish viewers.[53] Broadcasts made from another EU Member State are not covered by the Swedish regulations on broadcasting, but the laws of the country in which the broadcast originated.[54] There are in total six channels in Sweden that are broadcast from abroad (all from the UK), and any complaints against these channels should therefore be lodged with the UK authority Ofcom (Office of Communication).[55]

In addition to EU broadcasts mentioned above, other international broadcasts may be viewed in Sweden using satellite services.[56] The content of these shows is likewise not regulated by the Swedish authorities.[57] Within the EU framework Sweden has been pushing for a change in the regulation that would give it the right to regulate and oversee programs that are sent from another EU country but are meant for a Swedish audience (for example, when broadcast in the Swedish language).[58] However, under current legislation, programs that are filmed in Sweden and then sent to another EU country for broadcast from that EU country are not considered broadcast from Sweden.[59] Thus, the determinative factor is not the location where a program is filmed, but “where the regulation of the broadcast” is conducted.[60] For programs broadcast from abroad, the regulation of the broadcast occurs where the editorial decisions regarding the programs are made, as well as where the broadcaster is headquartered.[61]

3. European Content Quotas

The Swedish Radio and TV Act requires at least 50% of the content broadcast in Sweden to be produced in Europe.[62] In addition, at least 10% of the content should be self-produced by the broadcaster in Europe.[63] Moreover, a significant part of the programs broadcast should be produced in the Swedish language.[64] “Significant part” is not defined.

4. List of Foreign Journalists Operating in Sweden

Sweden keeps a list of foreign journalists and broadcasters that work in Sweden.[65] To be listed a journalist must provide contact information and work samples to his or her publisher.[66]

5. Issuance of Press Credentials in Sweden

Individual events or public institutions may have special rules for media accreditation. For example the Stockholsmässa (Sweden’s largest exhibition center) requires that foreign journalists must have international press credentials, present a current letter or certificate from their employer or principal, and provide three articles or posts on the relevant topic from the prior year to be granted press access to their event.[67] Also, the Swedish Parliament requires press credentials to be applied for directly with the Parliament.[68] Only persons who are devoting at least 50% of their full-time employment to journalism may be issued credentials.[69]

Press credentials may be revoked if they were obtained using false or misleading information, the journalistic assignment has ended, the journalist has not complied with Swedish rules and regulations, or other extraordinary circumstances warrant revocation.[70]

6. Fines against Broadcasters

Broadcasters who violate the Radio and TV Act may be criminally fined (böter), imprisoned, or receive monetary sanctions (särskila avgifter).[71] Fines and prison sentences may be imposed for either broadcasting without a permit or not meeting the registration requirement.[72] Monetary sanctions are issued for other violations of the Radio and TV Act—for instance, violating the rules on advertisements for public media or on broadcasting sponsored content outside of advertisements for private broadcasters.[73] In addition, programs that are broadcast via satellite in Sweden may be sanctioned in certain cases, including when they contain sponsored, pornographic, or violent content.[74] In these cases it is the satellite entrepreneur or its principal that is sanctioned.[75] All fines and sanctions are paid to the Swedish state.[76]

7. Revocation of Broadcasting Permits

The MPRT or the Swedish courts may revoke permits for gross violations of the Radio and TV Act.[77] The Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman (Justitieombudsmannen, JO) may request revocation of a broadcaster’s permit by lodging a complaint in Swedish court for violations with regard to the content of the broadcast program—for instance, in cases of violations of the prohibition and limitation on pornography and violence applicable to all broadcasters, or for bias or undemocratic content broadcast by public media.[78] The MPRT determines revocations based on all other violations.[79]

B. Threat from Foreign Media

Sweden recognizes that foreign media has the potential to become a threat to its national security.[80] For example, Sweden’s Defense Policy Strategy notes with concern that Sweden, as well as its neighbor countries, are already subject to information campaigns from individuals and foreign sources, with the goal of influencing its security policy.[81]

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Prepared by Elin Hofverberg
Foreign Law Specialist
June 2019

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Last Updated: 12/30/2020