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Flashback Media Group

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Flashback Media Group AB
Company typeWebsite
IndustryMass media
FoundedFebruary 24, 1993
HeadquartersEngland
Key people
Jan Axelsson
Number of employees
Unknown
WebsiteFlashback.net
Flashback Forum (Swedish)
Flashback Forum (English)

Flashback Media Group AB is a controversial Swedish media group run by Jan Axelsson. It has a forum with a large number of members, where everyone is allowed freedom of speech, therefore, the forum has been investigated by the Swedish police on numerous occasions and is under constant surveillance by the Swedish Security Service due to its members' abundant discussions about drug use,[1][2] child pornography, race science, bestiality and other controversial subjects.[3] Other controversies include sexual harassment of famous individuals,[4] open racism,[5][6][7][8] forced disconnection from its internet service provider,[9][10][11] hosting of nazi sites,[12][13] sabotage of votes in TV shows,[14] spreading of internal passwords of the SSU[15] and connections to hacking of the CIA site in 1996.[16] Still, the forum rules forbid posting or linking to content such as child pornography, personal information or drug dealing.[17][18]

History

Flashback origins from the local fanzine "Dead or Alive" published by the then fourteen years old Jan Axelsson in Norrköping. It developed into multiple projects focusing on different aspects of subcultures, mainly punk, and changed its name to Flashback in February 1993.[19]

Flashback's website was first published in June of 1995 as a big supporter of copyleft. The company publishes "Scandinavia’s biggest neutral newsletter" with over 120,000 subscribers on a monthly basis in both English and Swedish editions. The proclaimed goal is to maintain freedom of speech and express underground opinions. The magazine and website are opinion neutral and have no religious or political affiliations. The website has on multiple occasions been shut down by authorities[9][10][11] and has been fined hundreds of thousands of SEK.

After a trial in 2002 it became illegal for Flashback to run a discussion forum in Sweden, lest all posts would be previewed by moderators before they were published. Flashback Media Group AB and Jan Axelsson each were fined 400,000 SEK on probation and were forced to pay the trial costs of 250,000 SEK.[20] To be able to work under less restrictive laws the website was moved to British hosts after 2003. Flashback Media Group is still being reported to the police for insult, slander and agitation from time to time.

File:Flashback Forum.png
Flashback Forum

Flashback Underground Forum

The most popular parts of Flashback are its Swedish and secondary English forums. The Swedish forum houses over 7,000,000 posts by more than 125,500 members[21] in over 85 public forum categories ranging from data security, drug use, graffiti, politics, weapons, alternative sexualities and urban exploration to religion, literature, philosophy and science, making it the largest and most active Swedish language forum in the world. The English forum is smaller with slightly over 4,500 members and 75,000 posts, as per the forum's own statistics.

Flashback Records

Flashback Records is the label of Flashback Media Group's own record company. So far Flashback Records has released only one title and this was when Swedish Ace of Base singer Ulf Ekberg denied that he was ever a Nazi. A compilation of Ekberg's songs from his white power band Commit Suiside was released on a limited edition CD called "Uffe was a Nazi". [22] [23]

References

  1. ^ Template:Sv icon "Police.se - Drug investigations on the internet, page 35 - 36" (PDF).
  2. ^ Template:Sv icon "Expressen.se - Sold drugs on the internet".
  3. ^ "kuro5hin: Flashback and the Media Market".
  4. ^ Template:Sv icon "Expressen.se - Jan Axelsson: I have nothing to do with it".
  5. ^ Template:Sv icon "GP.se - Prosecutor again controls the jokes about Bobby".
  6. ^ Template:Sv icon "SvD.se - Prosecutor investigates rough Bobby jokes".
  7. ^ Template:Sv icon "Expressen.se/GT - Slander about Bobby is not illegal".
  8. ^ Template:Sv icon "Expressen.se - "Joke site" about Bobby is shut down".
  9. ^ a b Template:Sv icon "Aftonbladet.se - Flashback is shut down - for the second time".
  10. ^ a b Template:Sv icon "Aftonbladet.se - Flashback gets threatened again".
  11. ^ a b Template:Sv icon "Aftonbladet.se - Flashback shut down".
  12. ^ Template:Sv icon "Aftonbladet.se - Jan Axelsson: Nazi site allowed to stay".
  13. ^ Template:Sv icon "Aftonbladet.se - "Stop the nazi sites"".
  14. ^ Template:Sv icon ""Aftonbladet.se - Vote coup: Save Jens".
  15. ^ Template:Sv icon "SvD.se - SSU account details spread".
  16. ^ "CNN.com - Hackers vandalize CIA home page".
  17. ^ "Flashback Forum rules (swedish)".
  18. ^ "Flashback Forum rules (english)".
  19. ^ "About Flashback".
  20. ^ Template:Sv icon "Flashback.se - Flashback is illegal in Sweden!".
  21. ^ "Big-boards' rankings section, Swedish".
  22. ^ Template:Sv icon "Flashback Records".
  23. ^ "WikiPedia: Commit Suiside".
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