Swedish party shuts down AI campaign tool after Hitler greeting exploit

Sweden’s Moderate Party shut down an AI service that generated personalized video greetings from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson after users exploited it to create messages for Adolf Hitler and other notorious figures. The campaign tool, launched ahead of the 2026 election, lacked proper content filters and allowed inappropriate names to bypass security measures, forcing the party to take immediate action when the misuse was discovered.

What happened: The AI service was designed to create personalized recruitment videos where Kristersson would hold signs with names and encourage people to join the party.

• TV4 News, a Swedish television network, tested the system and successfully generated a greeting where Kristersson held a sign reading “We need you, Adolf Hitler” while asking if Hitler wanted to become their colleague.
• Other problematic names that passed through the system included Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.
• The service appeared to have no filtering mechanism to prevent such misuse.

The oversight: Campaign officials acknowledged the lack of proper safeguards that should have prevented this type of abuse.

• “In previous campaigns of a similar nature, there was a blacklist that prevented misuse in this way,” Maria Sognefors, operational campaign manager, told TV4 News.
• The admission suggests the party had experience with similar tools but failed to implement learned security measures.

Swift response: The Moderates took down the service immediately after being alerted to the problem on Thursday.

• “We were made aware that it was possible to misuse our new campaign by entering inappropriate names. Therefore, we took the site down as soon as we became aware of this,” Sognefors explained.
• The incident highlights the ongoing challenges political organizations face when deploying AI tools without adequate content moderation.

Why this matters: The incident underscores the critical importance of implementing robust content filters and security measures when deploying AI-powered campaign tools, especially as political parties increasingly turn to artificial intelligence for voter outreach ahead of major elections.