Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a German-Finnish entrepreneur, conspiracy theorist and propagandist, Kim Dotcom. He's best-known for his illegal online activities and projects, for his hate towards the US, and for his unwavering support for Putin's imperialism.

1/18

During the 90s, Kim rose to notoriety in Germany for various hacking activities. In 1998 he was convicted on several charges of computer fraud and data espionage and received a 2-year suspended sentence. In 2003, he was arrested in Thailand and was deported to Germany,...

2/18

...where Kim pleaded guilty to embezzlement and was sentenced to jail, only to flee to Hong Kong to avoid going to prison. He was eventually granted a citizenship in New Zealand through their "investor plus" system, after he'd invested over 10 million USD in the country.

3/18

Dotcom's best-known online project was probably Megaupload, launched in 2003. It was an online file hosting and sharing service, churning out 175 million USD in revenue. He was eventually charged by the US authorities with racketeering, conspiring to commit copyright...

4/18

...infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering, and was sent to prison. He was later released on bail. Most of his assets were also seized, even though he got some of them back later due to poorly made warrants.

5/18

He's blamed the Hollywood, Obama and the US for his arrest, suggesting that the US government charged him at Hollywood's request, in exchange for support for Obama. So it's pretty clear that Kim is driven by his hatred for the West and especially for the US.

6/18

He's a fan of Donald Trump, though, and he's often shared Trump's speeches about taking down the "deep state".

When it comes to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Kim's tweets are pretty much what you'd expect: praise of Putin and Xi, defaming and mocking of Zelensky and Biden, ...

7/18

...fuming about "Ukrainian Nazis", bioweapons labs, deep state, and all that jazz. As is tradition, Kim Dotcom became a fervent peace advocate very soon after Russia organized fake referendums at the four Ukrainian Oblasts and Putin declared them as part of Russia.

8/18

At the start of the war, Dotcom was speculating that "Putin is playing chess while the West plays tic tac toe". He's fantasized about "Russian super weapons" (funny how they all turned out to be a joke and they had to resort to Wish to Alibaba-grade components) and that...

9/18

..Putin is actually just wrecking the Western economies. You know, coping at maximum level.

In 2017, Dotcom claimed that he worked with Seth Rich, a US citizen and employee on the Democratic National Committee who was murdered during a suspected robbery.His death spawned..
10/18

..several conspiracy theories stating that he was a whistleblower who had leaked documents damning Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager,John Podesta. The hack-and-leak operation was actually conducted by Russian intelligence service GRU's hacker group called Fancy Bear.
11/18

Rich's family called Dotcom's false statements "ridiculous, manipulative, and non-credible", and their spokesman tweeted to Dotcom that "have an agenda or are a sociopath". It could be both, though. He also shared a fake FBI document related to the case on Twitter.

12/18

Kim has also called #NAFO a 100 million USD "CIA botnet", offering little real evidence on his claim. Also, it seems that he has no clue how the Twitter algorithm or engagement transfer between social media platforms works.

13/18

He's also ready and willing to spread disinformation and fake images when it fits his agenda. After the photos of General Valerii Zaluzhnyi wearing a "Nazi bracelet" started spreading, he ignored NAFO's debunking of it, probably because it didn't fit his narrative.

14/18

He's also blamed NAFO for manipulating the polls he has conducted for his cozy little pro-Russian bubble. He even went as far as tweeting a whole thread on how Twitter should do something about the "NAFO problem" and how it all is just a big conspiracy coordinated by the...
15/18

..US and Ukraine intelligence services. I don't know what this guy is smoking, but I don't want it.

On Twitter, Dotcom is nothing more than a propagandist. He will not engage in any conversation, and he definitely won't listen to any disagreeing voices - he'd rather ...

16/18

...just block them and preach to his +1 million audience. His tweets are full of conspiracy theories, baseless claims and outright lies, of which all seem to stem from his hatred towards the US authorities.

17/18

Kim has also released music. His album "Good Times" was released in 2014 under his Kimpire Music label.

18/18

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CORRECTIONS:
2/18: Based on Kim, he left Thailand voluntarily & was not deported.
3/18: Kim was given a probationary sentence & didn't flee to HK.
5/18: NZ courts released some of Kim's assets to cover his legal fees & living expenses, but this wasn't due to poorly made warrants.