Ebba Busch lies, singles out a journalist in a speech, then lies again

An AI-generated picture of Ebba Busch wearing a t-shirt that says 'CHATGPT EXCUSE FORCE' on the back. This is an image based on a real vacation photograph by Busch, where she hung out with the Israeli army⁷.

Almedalen is a small section of Gotland, an island that is part of the nation of Sweden. Once per year, politicians flock to this little space to spread propaganda. This is the story of what Ebba Busch, the party leader of Kristdemokraterna (the Christian Democrats) recently did.

During her speech at Almedalen, Ebba Busch did something remarkable. From an article¹ by journalist Emma Pahnke, this is translated from Swedish by yours truly:

In the middle of summer, I hear Sweden's second-highest politician mention my name. It's the Christian Democrats' day in Almedalen, and Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch dedicates her speech to explaining what feminists have mucked up. She seems to have struggled to find current examples, so she pulls out a 23-year-old quote from Gudrun Schyman, followed by a quote from Roks' former chairwoman Ireen von Wachenfeldt, dated 2005.

"But the angriest of them all," Ebba Busch then says, "was the cultural writer Elina Pahnke when she blurted out: power is not an abstraction – it is concrete, and it crushes lives."

Ebba Busch takes a breath and continues her speech with a rhetorical question:

"What have these powerful voices contributed to?"

I look at the screen, confused. It's flattering to be disliked by Ebba Busch, but one question sticks with me. When did I, a freelance journalist, become more powerful than Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister?

Here, Pahnke's detective journey started. I'll let her Instagram story posts² paint the whole picture; translations for each image is by yours truly:

Naturally, it was very flattering to be named the angriest of them all by Ebba Busch.

Nevertheless, there was something about the Deputy Prime Minister's speech I couldn't shake off.

Why had I no memory of having written what she claimed I'd written?

I decided to closely investigate the matter.

I brought in an award-winning author to assist me.

The result of our research is astonishing.

In this image, Pahnke wrote:

So I'm not "misquoted." She completely made up that I wrote this.

...which is a comment on Busch's so-called excuse:

I want to apologise to Elina Pahnke.

What is presented as a quote should be a quote. In Almedalen, I stood on stage and quoted the cultural writer Elina Pahnke. The source for that quote turned out to be false. Attributing something to her that she did not say verbatim is extremely unfortunate, and I of course want to apologise to both her and everyone who was listening.

The quote came from a search using an AI tool. However, we now understand that the quote is not accurate but rather a paraphrase of things said in other contexts. The sources provided were also likely fabricated by the AI tool.

When we asked where the quote came from, the AI tool responded that it was from a deleted tweet (with a date and status number) and from an article in the newspaper Arbetet, issue number 48 from 2017 – both difficult to verify as the newspaper in question is not available digitally and the X account is private to Pahnke's followers. It even specified how the quote was phrased on X, as well as the number of likes and retweets it had received. The AI tool therefore appears to have invented what was supposedly on X. We cannot verify this.

I have tried to contact Elina Pahnke directly but have not been able to reach her today.

This is a completely new situation for us, where we are given a direct source that turns out to be incorrect. We take this very seriously, and it means we will work differently going forward.

I did not translate Busch incorrectly.

She really did state that she 'quoted' Pahnke.

Just to be crystal clear: what Busch made up is not a quote: it is a lie. The so-called quote is complete fabrication. Busch tries to blame AI³ for what she dished out.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden has simply pasted something from Chat-GPT because it suited what she wanted; it had nothing to do with the truth.

A few years ago, Busch was in a Swedish court of law sentenced for gross defamation, something that she admitted; afterwards, on social media, she said she was telling the truth⁴.

Is Busch delusional or a pathological liar? Who can tell.

In this image, Pahnke wrote:

For the sake of clarity, I want to stress that the problem here isn't an "AI blunder", but that Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister is singling out individual journalists and lying about what they're saying.

I think Pahnke is acting both responsibly and accurately. Busch, on the other hand, has been caught in sending out lies and, when caught in her lie, blames AI and still says the text is a quote, which it most certainly is not.

The rest of the image quotes [sic] an article from Aftonbladet⁵ where Ebba Busch goes further down some sort of rabbit hole:

This is an entirely new situation for us, to have a direct source that turns out to be incorrect. We take this very seriously, and it means we will be changing our approach going forward.

Take heed: 'a direct source'. This 'source' was most likely Chat-GPT.

If you use AI as a search engine and font of truth: think again⁶. This means you're not only prone to spout bullshit, but that you're very susceptible to bullshit, which is the case with Ebba Busch.

Busch just blamed the Internet for her own lies, and then lied as part of her excuse.

This is a screenshot from an Instagram story that Ebba Busch has posted. Her caption serves as a perfect finishing touch to this story:

Simply be extra vigilant of accounts that spread fake news!