Hadia Tajik has been selected to join the board of Fritt Ord alongside the somewhat more low-profile Eirin Larsen, who is an expert in digital warfare. Board chair Bård Vegar Solhjell is showing new sides.

Everything is being done to strengthen freedom of expression and the free word.

– Hadia Tajik was one of Norway’s most talented politicians, with a strong commitment to freedom of expression, human rights and justice issues. She has extensive experience in participating in difficult debates in the field of freedom of expression, says Bård Vegar Solhjell.

– Freedom of expression is under greater pressure than in a long time, both from extreme actors and tech giants that set the premises for public discourse. It is particularly meaningful to contribute to Fritt Ord’s important work in the times we now live in, says Hadia Tajik.

Tajik appeared on Mandagspanelet together with Minerva’s Nils August Andresen this week and wanted the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment to investigate whether anti-state actors had exploited scandals such as the Epstein case to “hype” up sentiment against politicians and democratic institutions. This happened without a single critical question from the programme presenters.

Freedom of expression no longer applies to those whom NRK and the Labour Party define as “far right”. That this includes the leader of the most important country in the West is something they do not relate to.

The development we have observed in the US over ten years, where all means have been used to bring down a candidate who has won three elections, has now seriously arrived in Europe.

The Labour state is imperceptibly sliding into the deep state.

The media are fully on board and sell inverted reality to the population around the clock: Opinion control is freedom of expression. Peace is won only with weapons. The war must continue.

No questions are asked in the new social democracy, to which the Conservatives have become an appendage.

That is why they are bringing in digital warriors. Eirin Larsen comes from Telenor.

– Eirin Larsen has a background in work at the intersection of technology and journalism. She has particular expertise in how social media can promote, but also challenge, freedom of expression and the public conversation, says Bård Vegar Solhjell.

– The algorithms on Facebook managed to change the world without us seeing it coming and being able to make good decisions. We must now. We are in a new technological revolution with artificial intelligence. Then the choice is more knowledge and better dialogue or a more fragmented and less democratic public sphere, says Eirin Larsen.

Larsen is a media and technology strategist with broad experience from the Norwegian media industry and public administration, and now works with technology development at Telenor Group. She has been a journalist and head of social media at DN, Adresseavisen and NRK, as well as senior advisor at the Prime Minister’s Office. Larsen is trained as a journalist and holds a master’s degree in digitalisation and innovation.

Here Solhjell is in the process of turning Fritt Ord into a combat organisation for the deep state.

But they have a big problem. They completely ignore the other half of the US, which is growing ever stronger. The liberal media are in full descent because they do not represent the population’s interests. The same is happening in Western Europe.

The elite’s answer to this is coercion.

Historically, people react badly to coercion over time.

The elite’s answer is more coercion.

Until something “gotta give”, as the Americans say. Someone has to give in.

The transformation of Fritt Ord has taken place quietly. After Solhjell replaced Grete Brochmann as board chair, a large part of the staff were sacked in a brutal manner that provoked strong reactions.

Two central figures, Eirik Rudeng and Georg Fredrik Rieber-Mohn, wrote an indignant article in Klassekampen and called for answers as to why employees were thrown out the door. It is rare for such criticism to come out publicly on the left.

Something was underway. Now we see the answer. Fritt Ord has three billion in the bank.