The Names of Thousands of Neo-Nazi Music Fans Just Got Leaked
Thousands of purveyors of neo-Nazi tunes just had their day ruined by a crew of enterprising Scandinavian anti-fascists.
For years if a white supremacist wanted to get their hands on select neo-Nazi music one of their likely stops would be Midgård, a Scandinavian online shop specializing in racist tunes.
While the site offered a wide range of neo-Nazi music, clothing, and paraphernalia, its customers learned last week one thing they didn’t offer was infosec. This tough lesson was taught by AFA Sweden, a group of Stockholm-based anti-fascists, who ruined thousands of the site customers' holidays by releasing Midgård’s customer register.
“Since the 1990s, Midgård has played a significant role in the Nazi movement in Sweden, serving as an infrastructure for the movement,” reads the write-up accompanying the leak. “Over the years Midgård has actively participated in and financially supported several Nazi organizations as well as being present at internal events.
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When reached for comment AFA Sweden didn’t tell VICE News how they got their hands on the database but said it “is far from the first leak from which we have published information.” In the past the group has published other information they gleaned from Midgard, as well as other online neo-Nazi stores.
“Unlike the other hacks from which we have published info we wanted to do something different this time,” an AFA Sweden member wrote in an email. “With over 200,000 orders it just was not feasible to work with everything ourselves like we usually do. Instead we published it as a database that you can search and sort after several parameters. Our goal, and what has already happened is that anti-fascists in other countries have started to work on their Nazis.”
The data is freely available in a table on the anti-fascist websites and it contains not just the name of the probable neo-Nazis, but what they purchased, their phone numbers, the address they listed for delivery, and in the case of the Swedish customers, their social security number.
AFA Sweden doesn’t explain how they got their hands on the data but have made similar releases before. The list is primarily populated by Scandinavians —AFA Sweden says there are over 2500 unique Swedish names on the list—and Europeans but there are a sizable number of North Americans on the list.
In its write-up, AFA Stolkholm says the men who run Midgård are connected to the Nordic Resistance Movement. Founded in 1999, the Nordic Resistance has long been one of Scandinavia’s longest-lasting and most dangerous neo-Nazi organizations. Members have been arrested for a myriad of violent crimes, including assault and murder.
The data is already being used by some organizations for research. Peter Smith, a researcher and journalist with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CANH) is currently investigating the Canadian names included in the leak. Smith told VICE News leaks like this are important to understand the global nature of the far-right.
"Leaks like the most recent one from AFA Sweden give researchers a look on the inside the business of fascist and far-right movements. These are small, insular communities that are afraid of losing their anonymity and being held accountable for their beliefs. Having information from a long-standing site like Midgård casts some light on not only how parts of the movement earn money, but who is doing the purchasing and what they spend their money on.”
VICE News reached out to Midgård via email and WhatsApp for comment but did not receive a reply. Midgård has not made any reference to the data leak on their website. VICE News also reached out to the anti-fascists behind the leak but did not get a response. The anti-fascists have set up an email for people who are on the list to have their names removed.
“We are continuously working with people on the list,” said the member of AFA Sweden. “Our main goal is always to attack organized fascist movement with different tools available. When it comes to the people on the list the goal is always to give no alternative but to leave the movement or make it impossible to stay active.”
As for complaints that their personal information hasn’t been protected, well, they tell the purveyors of extreme-right art to complain to “the person in charge at Midgård.”
“This together with our regular work and the other leaks show that you can never expect to be anonymous in the Swedish fascist movement. Even if you don't have any indication that we
are aware of you, we most likely are,” they wrote. “Even if you have never been caught on camera. It is better to contact us if you want to move on with your life than hope that we forget, because we never forget.”
Correction: The name of the Stockholm-based group is AFA Sweden, not AFA Stockholm.
