Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jan 1, 2023 13 tweets 8 min read Read on X
In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce one of the biggest disinformation and propaganda blogs on the web: The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews). It's best known for misleading reporting, disinformation and love of authoritarian regimes and dictators.

1/13
Basically, if somewhere around the world there is an authoritarian leadership, Grayzone boys and girls will be quickly licking their boots. Same goes for genocide: if one is happening somewhere around the world, these "journalists" will deny it.

2/13
Grayzone was established by Max Blumenthal (@maxblumenthal) after his visit to RT's 10th anniversary party in Moscow. Allegedly the trip was paid for by the Kremlin.The main contributors of the site at the moment are Blumenthal, Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate), ...

3/13
... Kit Klarenberg (@KitKlarenberg), Max's partner Anya Parampil (@anyaparampil) and Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi).

Most profilic Grayzone bloggers have either visited RT/Sputnik shows as a guest or worked for them in the past.

4/13
Incidentally, their narratives are often in line with Russia's disinformation campaigns. Regarding the war in Ukraine, they have falsely reported that Ukraine uses civilians as human shields & that Mariupol theater massacre was staged by the Azov Battalion to provoke NATO.

5/13
Grayzone bloggers have been a target of harsh criticism in the past. For example, Nerma Jelacic (@NermaJelacic) described them as "a Kremlin-connected online outlet that pushes pro-Russian conspiracy theories and genocide denial."

6/13
Academic writer Gilbert Achcar described Grayzone beautifully by saying that it's "pro-Putin, pro-Assad 'left-wing' propaganda combined with gutter journalism".Grayzone's invitation to Web Summit 2022 held in Lisbon, Portugal, was cancelled which made the bloggers pretty mad.7/13
The blog & especially Max has also taken a stance on Chinese abuse against the Uyghur Muslim minority:
Between Dec 2019 & Feb 2021, CCP-controlled media cited Max's blog at least 313 times. Blumenthal has also appeared on China's TV news channel CGTN.
8/13
They've also attacked NAFO, Georgian Legion and their crowdfunding efforts, suggesting that the rapid growth of NAFO was not organic. People actually tend to side with the defending country whose civilians are being murdered, @RealAlexRubi! Alex also doxxed a NAFO key figure.9/13
Maté likes to talk write about the Minsk agreement and "CIA-funded Ukrainian neo-nazis"

For example political scientist Neil Abrams (@neil_abrams) has debunked many of Aaron Maté's claims on Twitter, you can see a comprehensive list of them here:

10/13
The thing about all of these bloggers is that when you ask them about atrocities done by Russia, Nicaraguan government, al-Assad regime, China or other authoritarian regime, they fall silent.

11/13
They will not discuss these topics at all, and that's how you know that they're not journalists that study matters objectively, but rather propagandist bloggers who side with dictators and murderers.

12/13
An organization funding Al-Assad apologists rewarded some Grayzone bloggers back in 2019: bellingcat.com/news/2019/09/3…

By the way Max, who funds your little blog?

Related soups:
Max Blumenthal:

13/13

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Aug 18
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.

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Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.

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Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

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Read 25 tweets
Aug 11
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.

1/23 Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.

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One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.

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Read 24 tweets
Aug 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.

1/20 Image
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.

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From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 28
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.

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On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.

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What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.

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The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.

These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").

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Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

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Read 5 tweets
Jul 15
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.

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Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.

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Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.

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Read 23 tweets

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