In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American businessman and social media figure, Elon Musk (@elonmusk). He's best-known for being the wealthiest man in the world, running companies like Tesla Inc., SpaceX and Twitter, and for parroting Kremlin's propaganda narratives.
1/23
Musk was born in South Africa to a wealthy family. His father co-owned an emerald mine in Zambia, and he also invested in some of Elon's early business ventures in mid 90's. The company, Zip2, was later in 1999 sold to Compaq for 307 million USD.
2/23
In 1999 Musk co-founded ,an online financial services that merged with an online bank & eventually became PayPal. The company's key figures were referred to as the "PayPal Mafia" & included people like the anti-woke crusaders Peter Thiel & @davidsacks.
3/23 https://t.co/52BEtUfJdjX.com
Musk's various business ventures have made him the richest man in the world. He demands a lot from his employees, expecting them to work for long hours, often removing the possibility of working remotely. He fires people en masse, and all employees sign strict NDA's.
4/23
Musk has also taken the Giving Pledge, committing to give the majority of his wealth to charitable causes. In 2022,Forbes gave him the worst score in the philanthropy rating,since he had only given less than 1% of his fortune to charity. Soros was the biggest giver of all.
5/23
Musk has been active Twitter user since 2009, and he's the platform's biggest account by far with over 140 million followers. Throughout the years, he has provoked controversy with his tweets. Some of these incidents include comparing Justin Trudeau to Hitler,...
6/23
...calling the cave explorer who played a crucial role in saving 12 children from a cave in Thailand a "pedo guy" and "child rapist". Due to his success in business and developing future technologies, Musk has garnered a large group of faithful and fervent followers.
7/23
Like his old friend @davidsacks, Elon also likes to promote his ideas on absolutely everything, even when he doesn't have any expertise on knowledge on the topic (like the cave rescue operation) - a phenomenon known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.
8/23
Musk showed interested in buying Twitter as early as in 2017, and had previously criticized the platform for lack of free speech. He started buying Twitter shares already in Jan 2022, and eventually bought the platform for 44 billion USD in Oct 2022. The idea of buying...
9/23
..Twitter & making it "radically free speech" allegedly came from Elon's ex-wife @TalulahRiley, who'd texted Elon "Please do something to fight woke-ism. I will do anything to help!" Riley had specifically cited the ban of a conservative news satire website, @TheBabylonBee.
10/23
Prior to Musk's buyout of Twitter, the platform used so-called blue check marks to identify prominent figures and organizations. Musk quickly removed these, and introduced a blue tick that anyone could buy. This would provide them boost in the algorithm, and he declared...
11/23
...that this would provide real free speech. Previously he stated that the "Price [would be] adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity." As of today, Twitter Blue's pricing is almost identical in every country where it's available, including Madagasgar,..
12/23
...one of the poorest countries in the world. For only +20% of their annual income, average Madagasgarians can get some REAL free speech - thanks Elon!
He also sponsored the blue tick to the poorest of the poor, including @KingJames, @WilliamShatner and @StephenKing.
13/23
Elon also quickly started firing old Twitter employees, getting rid of 80% of its workforce. He said stated that the process was "painful", but at the same time mocked many of these individuals on Twitter. One especially disgusting example of this was when he mocked...
14/23
...Haraldur Thorleifsson, or @iamharaldur, an Icelandic national hero who suffers from muscular dystrophy. Musk also fired the team that fought against coordinated propaganda campaigns by countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. Research by Darren Linvill et al...
15/23
...found out that many disabled troll farms had become active again after the buyout.
Apparently, none of Elon's friends haven't told him about the study that fake news spread 6 times faster on Twitter than truthful content. As of today, this number is probably higher.
16/23
This type of research has become much more expensive since the buyout,as Musk has increased the API costs astronomically - access to 50 million tweets per month costs a whopping 42 000 USD.He also removed the free, basic API access used by many indie developers & academics.
17/23
Elon has attempted to combat disinformation on Twitter with "improved" community notes that he's called a "game changer". It's basically a crowdsourced (= free for Elon) feature where Twitter users can add context to tweets.
18/23
In May 2023, Musk's interview was hit with community notes over his claims that there's "no proof" that the Texas mall shooter was a white supremacist, and that @bellingcat is a "psyop". As of today, the community note has been removed.
19/23
Musk also provides a lot of publicity to known conspiracy theorists like al-Assad apologist and pro-Kremlin pundit, @aaronjmate, QAnon-affiliated @KanekoaTheGreat, social media grifter @stillgray, and of course fugitive @KimDotcom. When I asked for his comment...
20/23
...on this soup, Elon replied indirectly (I assume he didn't want to promote me in any way) to his old "war room" buddy and pro-Kremlin investor, @davidsacks, declaring that "This platform now cares about the truth, even if we don't like the truth."
21/23
It's somewhat ironic that the people who declare to be running a "free speech platform" that "cares about the truth", seem to be afraid to have any kind of discussion. I guess they don't want their own "truth" to be challenged, after all?
22/23
End of part one.
In the second part of this series, I'll focus more on Elon's comments on the Russo-Ukrainian War, including Elon's (or David Sacks') "peace plan", the undermining of neutral investigations, and promotion of pro-Kremlin narratives.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Lithuanian far-right politician and Seimas member Remigijus Žemaitaitis. He’s best known for his extremist political views and for falling for a scam that convinced him he was flying to New York to meet Elon Musk.
1/17
Like many vatniks before him, Remigijus worked as a lawyer before entering the world of politics. Once just another politician, he gradually embraced far-right nationalism and populism, following a trend seen across Europe over the past 15 years.
2/17
Instead of real policies, he tapped into fear, resentment, and anger, turning 4chan talking points into a populist political strategy. His speeches became more extreme, targeting minorities, Western institutions, and Lithuania’s support for Ukraine.