Medieorganisationen Utgivarna, representing Swedish media actors including SVT, TV4, SR, and Sveriges Tidskrifter, is preparing a civil lawsuit against Meta with a law firm. The organization has tried for years to stop ads featuring Swedish media profiles like Janne Josefsson and previously reported Meta and founder Mark Zuckerberg to the police. Fraudulent ads on Facebook use celebrities and journalists to recommend investments or dubious pills, sometimes with realistic-looking videos. Large fraud networks are behind these ads targeting Swedish users, and Meta has faced criticism for not addressing the issue.
Meta states its policy prohibits ads promoting or facilitating fraud and that addressing this requires cross-industry collaboration. This legal move comes amid broader scrutiny of online platforms and their role in facilitating financial scams.
In a separate legal matter, Östersunds FK has submitted a lawsuit against a former player who owes the club 205,000 kronor for unpaid invoices from several years ago. The player, no longer with the club, played many matches in Superettan for ÖFK. The player and Östersund had an agreement where he used a club apartment and received meals from a local restaurant in exchange for deductions from his salary. When the player was injured and on sick leave, he no longer received a salary, so the club invoiced him when deductions could not be made directly. The agreement was verbal, and ÖFK claims the player accepted it by not disputing it while deductions were made and continued using the benefits while injured.
The district court will formally serve the player, who currently lives abroad. Östersund has had financial problems in recent years, needing millions to survive last season and receiving 11 million to save its elite license. ÖFK started this season with a win and a draw, with the next match away against Helsingborg.
Another lawsuit involves Eslövs Bostads AB submitting a lawsuit against construction company Pemasund, demanding nearly one million kronor in compensation for lost subsidies in a project. Pemasund built twelve new apartments at Kvarngatan 6 in Marieholm years ago and sold them as a company including land to Ebo for 24.4 million kronor in 2018. Annika Backlund commented on her financial situation last year after being ordered to pay over 140 million kronor to various creditors for unpaid loans where she acted as guarantor.
Crime against benefit systems is a growing problem in Sweden, with incorrect payments having large socio-economic consequences and potentially devastating effects on trust and legitimacy in the welfare system. In the last seven years, 1,100 people have been reported for benefit crimes against Västerås municipality. In 2018, Västerås social services began focusing more than before on stopping incorrect payments from the benefit system. Since January 2025, two social secretaries work exclusively on investigating incorrect payments, examining each individual case and forwarding suspected matters to a council that can make a police report. Västerås municipality has reclaimed 850,000 kronor in incorrect payments just this year.
Attendo claims that Västerås city broke the contract on incorrect grounds. One year ago, Västerås city chose to terminate cooperation with Attendo, affecting around 900 customers who needed to find new care providers and 600 employees who lost their jobs. The reason for the termination was that systematic fraud with time registration was found, and a police report was made against Attendo. In the summer, Attendo presented its own investigation showing that no errors were committed. Attendo is proceeding with a lawsuit against Västerås city, claiming damages of about 24.7 million kronor because the contract was terminated on incorrect grounds, causing trust and economic damage.
In a related case, Västerås city had entered into an agreement with a woman's company for the provision of housing support according to the Social Services Act. The woman is convicted for having, through her company, reported 4,500 hours of housing support for compensation of nearly two million kronor despite the support not having been performed. The district court bases its assessment on a massive discrepancy between reported housing support that the company has charged for and what appears from pay slips along with witness statements from employees that they did not work despite housing support being registered as performed by them. The crimes are classified as gross fraud considering they involved a significant value, occurred systematically, were difficult to detect, and targeted the welfare system.
The woman is sentenced, despite her denial, to prison for two years and six months and is obligated to pay damages to Västerås city corresponding to the incorrectly paid compensation. The woman also receives a business prohibition for five years. The company she represented, in which the crimes were committed, is sentenced to a corporate fine of one million kronor.
For official information on Swedish judicial matters, Sveriges Domstolar serves as an authoritative source, providing a press contact email at HDO-Presskontakt@dom.se. These cases underscore ongoing legal and financial challenges across media, sports, construction, and social services sectors in Sweden.