"The room was messiestest I had ever seen", "Bookmaal and Noknиŋɑɪ"^[It's supposed to say "Bokmål" and "Nynorsk"]: Incorrect information, bad spelling and linguistic hallucinations have set off alarms for the Norwegian Language Council, as teachers and principals send concerned messages about a clearly AI-generated dictionary.

"Your complete resource for the Norwegian language" — these are the words at the top of the website ordlista.no. What the website actually provides, however, are made-up words, bad grammar, wholly nonexistent expressions, and alternative language history, according to the Norwegian Language Council. They are concerned.

—"The information could easily seem to be of sound quality to an untrained reader, but once we took a closer look at it, we saw right away that there is absolutely no quality control here," director Åse Wetås says.

—"Extremely harmful"

The website claims that it "uses freely-available AI models to create insightful articles providing guidance and useful resources for our readers."

Wetås chortles as she presents examples from the website. You can, among other things, read about "the depth and usage of the phrase 'to be like a fish out of water'", or learn about how the dialects of former Sogn og Fjordane county are "more conservative and closer to what we could call pure Bokmål^[Every single municipality in Sogn og Fjordane uses Nynorsk, not Bokmål. Even the county's name is Nynorsk. So this is basically like saying that Mississippi has the closest living dialect to "pure" Received Pronunciation.]"

Although Wetås can't help but laugh at the examples, she is still worried. The website claims to have content about language learning and grammar, and claims that it "provides the tools you need to master the language."

—"When you learn a language, you need resources you can trust, not resources containing egregiously incorrect facts and language."

Wetås says that it's a problem that people need to already possess some amount of knowledge of the language beforehand in order to notice the lack of quality that websites like these have. She also believes that the front page does not disclose the fact that it is AI generated in clear enough terms on its front page.

—"It could be extremely harmful for students and other people trying to learn Norwegian, if language learners end up using resources like these, instead of using resources which have been checked to ensure quality," Wetås says.

She brings up the much more reliable ordbøkene.no, which is maintained by the Language Council itself.

"Messy, messierer and messiestest"

Ordbøkene.no^[The original article just says "dette" meaning "this". This seemed like odd phrasing to me, but in context it's clear it's referring to ordbøkene.no.] has Norwegian-language dictionaries approved for use in education.

But when principal Bjørn Wilhelmsen at the Eikefjord School for Children and Youth^[I normally translate barneskole as "primary school" and ungdomsskole as "lower secondary school" but I opted for a different and more elegant-sounding translation here.] searched the word "messy" on Google one day, he ended up on ordlista.no — and certainly found a "mess" there.

—"I found something mildly entertaining on that website, let's put it that way," Wilhelmsen says.

—"It seemed fine at first, but then they started doing degrees of comparison, and then they said that 'chiaoens'^[This is literally cat-walking-on-your-keyboard type gibberish.] was a synonym for 'mess'."

Wilhelmsen's curiosity was piqued, and he started looking through the website's examples of unique dialectal words, which included words like "cuddle", "poop", "nonsense", "rowan", and "party-down" — none of which are actually dialectal words, yet the website still insists that "these words can be difficult to understand for those who aren't familiar with them, but they can also provide a fascinating insight into linguistic diversity".

Blocked the site

After Wilhelmsen was done laughing at ordlista.no, he quickly notified the Language Council. Wetås states that several other teachers and principals have contacted her about this matter as well. Wilhelmsen has himself chosen to block the website on his school's network.

This coming fall, the teachers at Eikefjord will use ordlista.no as a central example when they teach their students about critical thinking and skepticism to online sources.

—"Use at your own risk"

Aftenposten has presented Wilhelmsen and the Language Council's criticisms to ordlista.no. Nomedia Norge Limited — the company behind ordlista.no — only provided the following remark, and refuses further comment:

—"All information about ordlista.no, including information about its use of AI-generated content, can already be found on the website through the top menu and footer."

On the "terms of service" page it states that the information provided by ordlista.no should not be perceived as professional advice, and all usage of the site is at one's own risk. Users are recommended to contact qualified professionals if necessary.

—"A particular responsibility"

The Language Council has the approval of dictionaries and word lists for use in public education as one of its responsibilities. Wetås states that ordlista.no has not sought approval.

—"They're very far from being approved. If they really want to help people learn Norwegian, they need to start by fixing their content."

Aside from refusing to approve the word list section on ordlista.no, the Language Council cannot do much with the "educational content" on the AI-generated website.

—"But we can shine a spotlight on it," Wetås says, while emphasizing that the Language Council does not want to put an end to AI initiatives.

In an era where websites like ordlista.no are becoming progressively easier to spin up, Wetås says that there is only one real solution to the problem these websites present:

—"It is more important than ever that schoolchildren get a good education in reading and writing, as well as in textual analysis and criticism."

She believes this is the only way children and young people can learn to distinguish between good and bad quality.

My traditions for this very special day include:

• Seeing every government building flying giant flags, and thinking, "Oh, today's a flag day? I completely forgot! What is it this time? ...Oh it's probably just some royal's birthday, isn't it?"
• Looking up the list of official flag days in Norway, seeing that it's the queen's birthday, and saying, "Yup, of course."
• -ing at the small number of private individuals who have gone out of their way to commemorate a stranger's birthday just because she married a state-mandated celebrity with an inherited position of political power.
• Forget that July 4 is the queen's birthday by tomorrow morning, thus allowing me to repeat these traditions year after year.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5307804

NRK^[Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation] will discontinue its teletext service on August 20 due to the risk of serious technical issues. Over the course of the past few years, the service has become increasingly difficult for NRK to maintain. The technology is old and very demanding to keep in working order with the rest of NRK's system.

—"Most people are surprised when they find out that teletext still exists. But we know there are still some people who use it to this day," says Audun Aas, product development manager for nrk.no.

Aas says that NRK is doing its best to help teletext users find the information they're used to receiving through the service, elsewhere.

NRK's teletext service celebrated its 40th anniversary two years ago. During the service's 30th anniversary, it was predicted not to last another decade.

---

Did you know?

• Black and white TV sets were still common in 1983. NRK had a monopoly on TV broadcasts, but no way to provide quick updates on news and other information.
• Teletext was initially only available for a few hours in the evening, namely from the children's programming block to the end of broadcasts before midnight.
• Because the terminals NRK used to type teletext were imported from England, the letters Æ and Ø had to be replaced with Ä and Ö in teletext respectively.
• A typo in a teletext warning about toxins in blue mussels caused many Norwegians to fall ill in the summer of 1994.
• The invitation to the NRK teletext editorial staff's 10 year anniversary — including the event's bill of fare — was accidentally shown on teletext, prompting an apology via Dagbladet^[Newspaper associated with the Liberal Party until 1977. Sold from the Berner Group to Aller Media in 2013.].
• Teletext was for many years most popular among 20-39 year olds.

---

42 years of teletext

The Norwegian parliament resolved in April of 1982 that NRK would establish a teletext service. The service launched on February 2, 1983.

Establishing a teletext service proved to be such a daunting task that the chief editor of Arbeiderbladet^[Newspaper today known as Dagsavisen. Associated with the Labor Party at the time; became party-independent in 1999 and is now owned by Mentor Media.] was brought on to lead the work.

Surveys show that use of teletext has gradually declined in recent years, with only 3% of Norway's population using teletext as of 2024.

On August 20, 2025, the service will end after 42 years.

---

Poll: Will you miss teletext?

• Yes, I like having it available as an option: 29%
• No, I won't miss it: 40%
• Yes, but only due to nostalgia: 31%

3,566 votes

NB: This poll is not representative of the entire country. These are only the votes of people who read this article and decided to vote.

---

[There's a video from 1979 attached here explaining what teletext is, but I don't feel like translating it right now. The key takeaway is maybe that NRK was already experimenting with teletext by that point, but hadn't officially launched their service yet.]

All information currently available on teletext is also available on nrk.no.

NRK^[Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation] will discontinue its teletext service on August 20 due to the risk of serious technical issues. Over the course of the past few years, the service has become increasingly difficult for NRK to maintain. The technology is old and very demanding to keep in working order with the rest of NRK's system.

—"Most people are surprised when they find out that teletext still exists. But we know there are still some people who use it to this day," says Audun Aas, product development manager for nrk.no.

Aas says that NRK is doing its best to help teletext users find the information they're used to receiving through the service, elsewhere.

NRK's teletext service celebrated its 40th anniversary two years ago. During the service's 30th anniversary, it was predicted not to last another decade.

42 years of teletext

The Norwegian parliament resolved in April of 1982 that NRK would establish a teletext service. The service launched on February 2, 1983.

Establishing a teletext service proved to be such a daunting task that the chief editor of Arbeiderbladet^[Newspaper today known as Dagsavisen. Associated with the Labor Party at the time; became party-independent in 1999 and is now owned by Mentor Media.] was brought on to lead the work.

Surveys show that use of teletext has gradually declined in recent years, with only 3% of Norway's population using teletext as of 2024.

On August 20, 2025, the service will end after 42 years.

[There's a video from 1979 attached here explaining what teletext is, but I don't feel like translating it right now. The key takeaway is maybe that NRK was already experimenting with teletext by that point, but hadn't officially launched their service yet.]

All information currently available on teletext is also available on nrk.no.

This is, of course, assuming that I actually manage to find a way to connect it to a computer, which isn't exactly straightforward but I've still got a running plan. Connecting it to the Internet doesn't exactly seem easy, either.

The use of compulsory arbitration to end legal strikes is a long-lasting challenge, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Compulsory arbitration is not justified by a strike having potentially unfortunate long-term consequences for students. This is the opinion of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The Norwegian Union of School Employees (Skolenes landsforbund / SL) was the first teachers' organization to send its members on strike in 2022. Three union members working at Olsvik school in Bergen met at their workplace wearing strike shirts the morning of June 8; they would become the union members who were on strike the longest. The teachers' long strike of 2022 was ended by compulsory arbitration, at that point being the longest teachers' strike in Norwegian history, lasting from June 8 to September 27, with >8,000 teachers participating at the strike's conclusion.

The Norwegian Union of Education (Utdanningsforbundet) soon filed a complaint to the ILO regarding the use of compulsory arbitration to end the strike; the ILO has now formally criticized the actions of the Norwegian government, and SL has declared its agreement with the ILO's statement.

The Norwegian Union of Education reports to the Norwegian News Agency that the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association finalized last weekend their conclusions regarding the Norwegian teachers' strike of 2022.

The Norwegian government in 2022 stated that they ended the strike because it could have a negative long-term impact on students.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet / FHI) estimated that 14,000 students were at risk of developing issues with worsening mental health had the strike continued for longer than it did.

—"[Teachers'] strikes have a big impact on the lives of children and young people, because the structure that school provides them with in their daily lives disappears, and because the education they're offered isn't what it should be," Minister of Labor Tonje Brenna said to NRK back in 2022.

—"Vague concerns"

The Norwegian government's justification for its use of compulsory arbitration is not supported by the ILO. The agency says that the potential long-term impacts of a school workers' strike does not justify encroaching on workers' right to strike.

—"This is important for us in the Norwegian Union of Education, because we emphasized in our complaint that the government's decision to use compulsory arbitration to end the strike was not based on knowledge of the actual consequences, but rather was first and foremost based on vague concerns about the long-term consequences of a teachers' strike," says union leader Geir Røssvoll.

He emphasizes that the right to strike is a human right and crucial for the labor movement.

—"We never agreed with the government's reasons for ending the strike, so we're glad that the ILO is now in agreement with us," says Mette Johnsen Walker, leader of the Norwegian Union of School Employees.

—"We spoke here about an interruption in education over a longer period. There were too few facts on the table, but more than enough concern in a post-pandemic^[As of 2025, the WHO has still not declared an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.] age about what could happen to students if schools were to close. Teachers' right to strike is still strong. The psycho-social conditions of young people could've been kept in order by other municipal institutions," she adds.

Critical voices

Many people were overjoyed when the teachers' strike ended, while others in our country were critical, among them the Liberal Party (Venstre / V) and Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti / SV).

SV's spokesperson for educational policy, Freddy André Øvstegård, expressed concerns that the strikers' employers could utilize a compulsory arbitration to further their own interests.

—"The results here show that our party made the right decision in voting against the use of compulsory arbitration. The frequent use of force to end strikes in this country weakens the position of public sector workers. The government's policy here is gutting the right to strike and with it the power of the unions in our country," he said.

—"Cut the use of compulsory arbitration"

The ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association has stated that they condemn Norway's use of compulsory arbitration to end legal strikes, according to the Norwegian Union of Education.

The ILO has previously criticized Norway for other similar cases.

The Committee on Freedom of Association now describes the use of compulsory arbitration to end legal strikes as a long-lasting challenge. They expect that the Norwegian state will cooperate with organizations party to labor disputes to find solutions which might reduce the use of compulsory arbitration going forwards.

—"The ILO has stated in clear terms that school workers have a broad right to strike. This is very important for us going forward," Røsvoll says.

Several million people around the world will protest against Donald Trump today. In Frogner Park in Oslo, Lillian Correa fears that the USA can become a dictatorship.

The protestors had to change their slogan: while the protests in the USA this Saturday are rallying under the slogan of "No Kings", a group of Americans in Oslo beleved that this would've been unfitting in a monarchy like Norway. Thus they used the slogan "No Dictators" instead.

But they're talking about the same person: Donald Trump.

—"He's created a terror regime. It frightens me," says Lillian Correa.

She moved to Norway from the Bronx in New York City 36 years ago with her husband. Both are Latin Americans. This makes her extra concerned.

—"We have two sons. Young, Latino men in their 30s. They have tattoos. And we have seen what happens with tattooed Latino men in Trump's USA," Correa says.

They are scared because the past few months have seen several young tattooed Latinos arrested in the USA, out of a belief that the tattoos indicate membership in violent narcotics gangs. On several occasions, it proved difficult to demonstrate that the arrested persons' tattoos actually had anything to do with these gangs.

Lillian Correa made a protest sign from old pizza boxes to convey her message. Photo by Siri Øverland Eriksen.

The most famous among the Latinos arrested in recent months is the 29 year old Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was arrested in Maryland in March and sent to a notorious and controversial prison in El Salvador. It is this 29 year old that Correa thinks about most when she fears for her son's safety.

—"[My sons] used to go to the USA each summer to spend time with their family there. But not this year. I likely won't be going this year either. It's hard for us," she says.

Correa was one of the protestors against Trump's policies, gathered at the Lincoln monument in Frogner Park in Oslo on Saturday afternoon.

10~20 protestors gathered in Oslo. Photo by Siri Øverland Eriksen.

The protest was organized by Democrats Abroad Norway. While birds sang and people enjoyed the sun and soccer in the background, Correa and other concerned Norwegian Americans made appeals to the small gathering around them, through a white megaphone.

The protestors had creative posters to show their dislike of the president: "America is not OK", "Presidents are not kings", and "MAGA sucks" were some of their slogans. Another sign read "No Turd Reich", referencing both feces and Nazis.

One of several creative signs at Saturday's protest in Frogner Park. Photo by Siri Øverland Eriksen.

The date was not coincidental, either: June 14 is Trump's 79th birthday. For several weeks he has planned a military parade in the USA's capital Washington, D.C., on this day, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the US Armed Forces.

—"We're here to mark our resistance to Trump and his little parade on his birthday which he's organizing to pat himself on the back for throwing America in the trash," says Erica Gibson.

She leads Democrats Abroad Norway and fears what Trump might do with her country of birth.

—"We're protesting him and his regime and their authoritarian acts, ongoing in the USA as we speak, with a peaceful protest in Frogner Park for Americans, Norwegians and all others who stand against fascism," Gibson says.

This gets Vincent Baugh to chortle. He is second in command in Republicans Abroad Norway and believes that the Democrats are greatly exaggerating their fears.

—"Trump is not a king, nor an emperor. He's just a guy who got very lucky. The Democrats are just sore losers. They have no arguments other than that they think Trump is stupid. The American democracy is as strong as it was before," he says.

Republican Vincent Baugh (right) had a chat with the Democrat and Vietnam War veteran Andrew Stites in Frogner Park on Saturday. Photo by Siri Øverland Eriksen.

The time difference meant that the Norwegian picnic in Frogner Park was among the world's first protests against Trump's big day. In the USA, 2,000+ protests were planned across the country, with several million people expected to participate.

The No Kings protests will thus be the biggest and most comprehensive demonstration against Donald Trump since he returned to the White House in January.

On Facebook and other social media platforms, people exchanged advice on how they could keep the protests peaceful, and what they should do if they came into conflict with security forces. Many expressed fears for facing repercussions or being arrested simply for utilizing their freedom of speech.

The website nokings.org had on Saturday a map of the protests which would be held across all the USA. This picture is a screencap from nokings.org.

Los Angeles is expected to have the biggest protest, with 250,000+ attendants. Some parts of the city have seen protests since last weekend, against immigration authorities' rough treatment of migrant workers.

Trump has ordered the National Guard and several hundred marines to Los Angeles, to the great dismay of California's governor, Gavin Newson. This has created fears that the violence can escalate.

Mulonda "Maven" Rashidi, the new leader of the Peace & Justice Party's youth wing, considers North Korea to be one of the world's freest and most democratic countries.

Rashidi has shared political videos on TikTok. He expands on his views on North Korea to Klassekampen:

—"My personal support for North Korea is a matter of anti-imperialism. Korea was divided by the USA," Rashidi says.

The Peace & Justice Party's youth wing is called Young Anti-Imperialism.

See also: "On its own planet: The Peace & Justice Party for all who have smoked their socks" (Gunnar Stavrum) [opinion piece basically calling the party stupid]

When confronted with claims of North Korea being an oppressive dictatorship without any democracy or freedom of expression, Mulonda Rashidi replies,

—"What you're talking about, I think, is the liberal values that the USA is trying to push onto other countries. North Korea has different values. It is out of touch with reality to say that they are not democratic. North Korea's constitution is very democratic. Everyone has the right to work, healthcare, and education."

See also: "Oftebro will not leave the party: —'Anette is not happy'" [about a famous actor who's got some slack after it became known that he's a member of the Peace & Justice Party]

Rashidi understands that his views are provocative for many people in Norway.

—"Westerners do not want to call North Korea a democracy, but you have to understand it as a country with a completely different history and culture than the West," he says.

See also: "Going viral: —'Norway is pretty racist'" [about a Norwegian standup comedian who's gone viral on TikTok for talking about how Norway is racist and increasingly xenophobic]

If they succeed, it will improve communication between the hearing and Deaf.

THIS ARTICLE IS PRODUCED AND FINANCED BY SINTEF.^[One of 80+ owners of Forskning.no; their communication staff deliver content to Forskning.no. This article is marked to clearly separate it from independent content.]

The 430 million Deaf or hard-of-hearing people in the world often experience difficulties when communicating with the hearing. Researchers have now investigated a solution which uses machine learning to instantaneously translate sign language into written text or machine-generated speech. This solution can make dialog simpler, contributing to a greater inclusion of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in society.

AI proposed collaboration with researchers

It was Tone Ervik and Pål Rudshavn of Statped [State Special Pedagogical Service] in Trondheim who had the idea of using AI to translate sign language to text or machine-generated speech. They saw that AI was continuously improving at translating speech to text, so maybe AI with new language models could also be used to translate sign language?

—"I asked ChatGPT about how we could get further with this idea. It suggested that we should contact Sintef, so that's what we did," Ervik says.

The researchers immediately jumped on the idea of building a tool both very useful for society, yet simultaneously technologically challenging to develop.

—"We saw this as an amazing opportunity. With how quickly AI is progressing, we wanted to use the technology for something that can actually make a meaningful difference in society," says Costas Boletsis, supported by his colleague Zia Uddin.

With support from the Dam Foundation [Stiftelsen Dam], they started the project AI-based Norwegian Sign Language Translator [KI-drevet Norsk Tegnspråkoversetter] in February of 2024.

US-based researchers have come a pretty long ways with their own tool, which can interpret sign language in real time with the help of machine learning. Norwegian Sign Language, however, is unique, and therefore a new model must be developed for and in our own country.

16,500 people communicate using sign language in Norway, according to the Norwegian Association of the Deaf.

Boletsis and Uddin decided to start with getting a computer to automatically recognize the Norwegian Sign Language signs for the numbers 0 to 10, following advice from Statped.

—"We focused on the numbers 0-10 because we had to start somewhere, as Norwegian Sign Language is different from other sign languages. It could've been any other 11 gestures," Zia Uddin says.

He explains that they can expand the system with supplementary analysis. The basic approach will remain the same, just at a larger scale with more complex algorithms.

Tested the system in real time

Through their own tests, the researchers have found that the system they have developed is showing good results. It has a test accuracy of 95%, and the researchers believe this shows that the solution can handle variations in style, speed and camera angle.

We're meeting the researchers one year after the start of their project. It is now finally time to test the AI-based system in real time.

Twelve signers have arrived at Statped's offices, and one after another they stand in front of the computer and produce the signs for the numbers 0-10. The computer program uses hand and mouth markers to distinguish between signs with identical handshapes, such as the signs for 3 and 8.

Although the model performed generally well during this demonstration, it still conflated a few signs. The researchers will use this information to make improvements.

—"The aim is to develop a learning app for real-time recognition and evaluation of NSL. Users will get an immediate translation using an avatar. This will help signers communicate with hearing people in settings like grocery stores, hairdressers, airports et cetera. The results of today's test indicate that this will be a very useful tool in the future," Costas Boletsis says.

The researchers say that further development should focus on expanding vocabulary, and that the system should be tested in different situations, such as different lighting, camera angles and speeds. The system should furthermore use more types of sensor data to get a better spacial awareness.

The goal is an app

—"When the scope of our project is so big, it's only natural that the work will take several years. Artificial intelligence will evolve in parallel at the same time. The core of this type of project is data. We need to develop a dataset, a corpus, where we have a lot of information and many videos for each and every sign in use," Zia Uddin says.

He explains that they can then begin using AI models at a large scale. They can train the models effectively and investigate if they can handle a much broader range of expressions than what they've been trained on thus far.

The researchers' dream is an app or software which could be installed on e.g. a mobile phone, and which can instantaneously translate central words and phrases of sign language.

—"Sign language is extremely important for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. With the progress being made in AI, particularly in photo and video analysis, we believe we can make a tool which can make a big difference for many people," Zia Uddin says.

REFERENCES

Zia Uddin, Costas Boletsis og Pål Rudshavn: Real-Time Norwegian Sign Language Recognition Using MediaPipe and LSTM. Multimodal Technol. Interact, 2025. Doi.org/10.3390/mti9030023

YuruYuri season 2 episode 11 @ 21:05.

Because this is a developing situation and the article keeps changing and I've already translated two articles about Peace & Justice today, I didn't feel like translating this Aftenposten article in full... Though I guess my summary of the article is arguably complete enough that it counts as a translation "of sorts"...? I dunno.

The gist of it is that the Peace & Justice Party's posters on the Oslo Metro, which say that the money Norway spends on Ukraine should instead be spent on welfare, keep getting vandalized, and the party has thus decided to end its contract. The official statement from the party, via party leader Marielle Leraand's Facebook account:

Press statement from Peace & Justice (FOR): End of advertising contract in Oslo's public transit network

Oslo, May 19th, 2025

The Peace & Justice Party has resolved to terminate the contract for advertising posters in Oslo's public transit. The cause is that Sporveien [who operate the Oslo Metro] has not been able to uphold the contract due to systematic, politically-motivated vandalism of our posters. The vandalism comes from actors who support NATO's proxy war in Ukraine, and reveals a disturbing intolerance for freedom of speech and democratic debate.

Historically, the foundational idea of fascism was a blind support for national participation in war, where resistance to democracy was justified with the desire for political unity in war time. The aggressive response to our pacifist campaign shows how easily offended and nervously aggressive the cross-party consensus on war financing is. Our posters, which challenge Norway's role in the conflict, have clearly struck a nerve, and the vandalism shows a democratic deficit when people try to silence critical voices.

The Peace & Justice Party will now spend the resources we are saving on the advertising contract on furthering our pacifist message in other arenas. This will be a test of the strength of Norwegian democracy: Will we be able to express ourselves freely, or will the attempts to silence us continue? We would like everybody who values freedom of speech and open debate about Norwegian foreign policy to support our work.

JC Decaux Norway, who are responsible for the ads on the Oslo Metro, do not believe that the vandalism campaign constitutes a breach of contract on Sporveien's part. CEO Gisle Holst Roness explains that the contract would have JC Decaux install new posters, but Peace & Justice would have to pay for the replacements; the party apparently paid for half of the posters in advance, and by canceling now they won't have to pay the other half. Roness does not wish to comment on whether the party's cancellation of the campaign may be connected to the mounting costs of having to constantly replace the posters.

Sporveien's communications manager Gina Scholz states that the vandalized posters have been noted, and that the company is considering whether to report the vandalism to the police. She urges passengers to have respect for the party's campaign even if they don't agree with its message. At the same time, the Oslo Tram Workers' Union (Oslo Sporveiers Arbeiderforening), which represents Sporveien's employees, has distanced itself from the ad with a declaration that reads,

OSA distances itself from divisive political ad

The Oslo Tram Workers' Union (OSA) has previously advised Sporveien not to accept political ads which run contrary to the values of the labor movement for display in public transit. These sorts of messages trash the city's image, not just visually, but politically and socially as well. Our members and passengers should not be caused distress by the ads they see on public transit.

Our country's parliament has granted money to Ukraine with broad consensus. The support is not for the purpose of fanning the flames of war but for the purpose of defense against an aggressor, and contributing to national reconstruction and democracy.

We are proud members of the Organization for Norwegian-Ukrainian Solidarity in the Labor Movement (Stiftelsen Fаglig Solidaritet Norge-Ukraina) and we stand with the Ukrainian people and their labor movement.

We believe that the phrasing of these sorts of ads now circulating are populist, divisive and indefensible. They undermine important values like international solidarity, and the fight for peace and democracy. The OSA has always had a clear line: we do not support hateful rhetoric or campaigns that pit groups of people against each other.

We support solidarity in Norway and internationally.

The article then continues with some quotes from Oslo's governing mayor, Eirik Lae Solberg (Conservative), saying that although he strongly disagrees with the campaign, and is "concerned" about Peace & Justice's refusal to disclose how they paid for the campaign, and is accordingly glad that the party is now under investigation from the government; that he does not think it's right for the Oslo government to ban the ads. A previous version of this article, which unfortunately does not appear to have been archived, included a quote to the effect of "That would be political censorship, which doesn't belong in the liberal society we want to defend"; this quote is however still included in Nettavisen's article, which also quotes Solberg as saying, "Democratic parties must tolerate being looked into, especially when their message is so strong and controversial."

The Aftenposten article concludes with some quotes from an associate professor at the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo, Anine Kierulf, who has "expertise" in freedom of speech, basically just confirming that Peace & Justice's ads are within the bounds of free speech, and that the idea of banning expression of opposition to Norway's support for Ukraine has up to this point never been a point of discussion ("aktuelt", lit. "relevant")

The campaign posters of the Peace & Justice Party (Fred og rettferdighet, FOR) on the Oslo Metro have garnered a lot of attention the past few days. On Monday, May 19th, the party's website experienced downtime, the news publication Dagen reports.

The party itself states that the downtime is due to a cyberattack.

"Peace & Justice's website is currently being attacked. We apologize if our website has bad functionality," a message on the website reads.

The Peace & Justice Party created much ado over the weekend as campaign posters appeared on the Oslo Metro. The party is campaigning in fall's parliamentary election, and believes that the 85 billion NOK that the {Storting|parliament} plans to use on support for Ukraine, should instead be spent on welfare in Norway.

The campaign may have costed 1.4 million NOK, but the party has only registered 50,000 NOK in campaign donations, according to VG. The party has thus far refused to say who has financed the campaign.