To Örebro University

In the early 2020s, the Swedish child welfare services (CWS) were accused in social media of kidnapping and placing migrant children in foster or family care, without their families’ knowledge or permission. This debate became referred to as a large-scale disinformation campaign, which can be understood as a discursive struggle between different versions of truth. This study explores social media content about the Swedish CWS in Arabic between 2021 and 2023. The material consisted of Facebook and YouTube posts and comments in Arabic. The analysis departed from the narrative genre of shared stories, and focused on claims about the CWS and how such claims are made credible. The findings show three types of claims within the shared story of ‘the CWS kidnapping migrant children’: families are victims of CWS’ malpractice; affected children suffer; and migrant families fear the CWS. These claims are made legitimate and credible by constructing the teller as an expert using time, place, and details while constructing the testimonies to invoke an emotional response. In conclusion, this study highlights how social reality is constructed and negotiated on social media, where migrant families’ testimonies of wrongdoings and fear become intertwined with larger stories of good and bad, truth or falsehood. It is therefore essential that claims made online is treated as signals of perceived vulnerability and institutional distance, rather than as “falsehoods” to be corrected, while CWS’ procedures and legal thresholds are clearly conveyed.

This study examines the evolution of public participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq between 2016 and 2019, focusing on participatory reforms introduced under the Enhancing Democratization Program (EDP). Drawing on mixed methods–surveys, interviews, focus groups, and institutional documents – it analyses changes in access, trust, and perceived influence. The findings show that the EDP expanded visible participatory spaces and strengthened trust in civil society organizations and provincial councils, but had limited effects on confidence in government and parliament. Elite dominance, weak responsiveness, and selective inclusion constrained participants’ influence, leaving most forums consultative rather than transformative. Anchored in Arnstein’s distinction between symbolic and substantive participation, the article argues that procedural inclusion can widen participation without redistributing power. The Kurdistan case thus highlights a broader challenge of democratization in hybrid regimes: participation may expand in form while remaining limited in function.

This article examines how the Swedish child welfare services (CWSs) are described in Arabic-speaking social media, with a focus on the ‘LVU campaign.’ The material consists of Facebook and YouTube posts and comments about the Swedish CWSs' actions in child mistreatment cases involving migrant families. These posts and comments were written in Arabic, had a substantial number of interactions (likes, shares etc.), were openly accessible and were published between January 2021 and December 2023. Through thematic analysis of posts and comments, four themes emerge: ‘The heartless CWS bandits,’ ‘Sweden in moral decline (the land of haram),’ ‘The infidel West at war with Islam and God’ and ‘Faithful, just and loving families.’ These themes are further examined through three conceptual dichotomies: particularism–universalism, reality–hyperreality and the construction of‘ us’–‘them.’ The analysis shows that social media accounts shape perceptions of ‘the other’ and fuel mistrust in the commentary fields of posts of ‘real’ events. The accounts illustrate the challenge of balancing universal rights with respect for cultural differences and the minority rights of migrant families. The study highlights how such dynamics can accentuate in-group preferences and fuel inter-group polarization by amplifying certain versions of reality to explain the CWSs' actions towards migrant families.