And Then? Mullvad’s anti-surveillance TV ad blocked in the UK

Swedish VPN provider Mullvad says its anti-surveillance TV advert “And Then?” was rejected for airing in the UK, in a decision the company called “deeply concerning, Kafkaesque, and Orwellian.”

“And Then?” is a short film directed by Jonas Åkerlund and created by Mullvad, which aims to bring attention to the issues of censorship and mass surveillance. It has been used to criticise the EU Chat Control proposal and aired on the largest television channels in Germany and Sweden, the company says. It also appeared on American TV channels to criticize surveillance in the US.

But in the UK, Mullvad says “the campaign was completely halted.”

Clearcast, the organization responsible for pre-approving TV ads in the UK to ensure they comply with the code of broadcast advertising, rejected the ad, reportedly saying, among other things:

“The overall concept lacks clarity.”

“Several examples (e.g., paedophiles, rapists, murderers) risk causing serious offence and could imply that the VPN facilitates criminal activity.”

“Referencing topics such as: Paedophiles, Rapists, Murderers, Enemies of the state, Journalists, Refugees, Controversial opinions, People’s bedrooms, Police officers, Children’s headsets … is inappropriate and irrelevant to the average consumer’s experience with a VPN.”

Mullvad believes this is deeply concerning.

“In the UK, we are facing a situation where mass surveillance and censorship reminiscent of authoritarian countries are on the verge of being introduced; and when we attempt to criticise this, we are stopped on very vague grounds,” the company writes, adding that viewers should be allowed to think for themselves in a society with an open and healthy debate culture.

After being rejected from British TV, Mullvad wanted to take its commercial underground, spreading it via a QR code. But the statutory body responsible for London's public transport network and main roads, Transport for London (TFL), did not allow promoting banned ads. A graphic version of the commercial didn’t pass either.

Mullvad settled on a minimalist canvas featuring words: “And Then?”, having to change only the color, from white to black and yellow. This, as they say, poses “a relevant question for underground commuters in a nation sliding down the slippery slope of mass surveillance and censorship.”

The company says its overground ads have not faced resistance (so far, Mullvad ads).

Mullvad also pointed to other instances of alleged attempts to “escalate censorship and mass surveillance” in the UK, citing efforts to force Apple to install backdoors in its end-to-end encrypted cloud service, proposals that could introduce “client-side scanning and government spyware on all UK phones”, and government plans to fast-track legislation requiring identity verification for VPN use.