Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Apr 22 21 tweets 13 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American propagandist and political commentator, Ben Swann (@BenSwann_). He's best-known for spreading conspiracy theories related to 9/11, vaccines & Pizzagate, and for running several Kremlin-funded disinformation channels.

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Homeschooled with nine brothers and sisters, Benny turned out to be a talented young man, earning his Master's degree in history at the age of 16.

He was also working as a youth pastor at his local Baptist church at the age of 15.

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Ben's family was heavily involved in TV, and he also started working for various channels, first as a cameraman and later as an investigative journalist. Eventually he launched his own news segment called Reality Check, in which he promoted libertarian views and Ron Paul.

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Swann produced some good investigative journalism, questioning Barack Obama about the so-called presidential drone "kill list", and breaking details about the IRS targeting controversy, but he slowly descended deeper into the world of conspiracy theories.

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In 2013, he left TV for a while, launching a Facebook page called "Full Disclosure" and social media channel "Truth in Media". Through these, Benny spread various conspiracy theories and echoed talking points from propaganda and fake news outlets such as RT and InfoWars.

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Between 2013 and 2015, Ben also appeared regularly on RT America. In 2014, he hosted the Ben Swann Radio Show on a far-right, antisemitic and conspiratorial network called the Republic Broadcasting Network.

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In 2015, he returned to TV, reviving his "investigative journalism" segment Reality Check With Ben Swann. The show lasted for under two years, as he was suspended in Jan 2017 for running a story on the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. This theory suggests that...

7/20
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...a pizza restaurant in DC was organizing a child sex trafficking ring in its (non-existent) basement. This narrative came from hacked DNC e-mails, was heavily promoted by pro-Kremlin networks and was fully debunked long before Swann "investigated" it.

8/20
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Benny was reinstated after he took down his conspiratorial Truth in Media site, but was finally fired after his employer found out he was trying to revive the website without the network's knowledge and permission.

It seems Ben was deep in that rabbit hole already!

9/20
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And oh boy, is that rabbit hole deep. Swann has spread conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (the one that cost Alex Jones dearly), 9/11, and alleged cover-up of connection between the MMR vaccine and autism.

10/20
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He's also spread straight up Kremlin propaganda, including denying chemical weapon attacks conducted by the al-Assad regime and Russians in Syria, and denying the strong evidence that MH17 was shot down with a Russian Buk system by the Russians and pro-Kremlin separatists.

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After being fired, Swann relaunched Truth in Media and started several other online projects, including a failed social media website called Isegoria and Sovren, a self-described "uncensored, blockchain-based, decentralized news and entertainment platform."

12/20

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Benny also filed for the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which showed that his company, Rebel Media Productions LLC, was paid 6,8 million USD by the Kremlin. His statement claimed he would "produce propaganda TV content" for the South American, Indian, and Chinese markets.
13/20
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Swann was to produce four shows for TV Novosti, a parent company of RT, that has been sanctioned by the UK and the EU, but not the US. Interestingly, Truth in Media is a different company and it is not known how this outlet is being funded.

14/20

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Ben's also funded by two other foreign entities, the Russian Kart LLC and an Armenian Stark Industries LLC (referencing Iron Man?). Themes promoted include the "US/NATO provoked wars", "economic warfare waged by the US", and "transgender issues in the US".

15/20


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Swann and Rebel Media are responsible for the production of four English-language shows: 360 View, Cost of Everything, The M.O. and The Whistleblowers. Ben's FARA document stated that the shows are not available in the US, which is a false statement, as they actually are.

16/20

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In 2024, Truth in Media started publishing an anti-Ukraine propaganda series "Zelenskyy Unmasked". The show combines various conspiracy theories ranging from the "deep state" to "global elites" and of course to BlackRock. We'll probably see some COVID-19 theories, too!

17/20


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Like most of Ben's projects, this "documentary" seems to offer little new information,and it's just parroting the Kremlin's propaganda classics. This defamation campaign is also being promoted on X & it seems that the ad is shown in relation to any Ukraine-related content.

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Olga Lautman (@OlgaNYC1211) has been doing fantastic investigation on Swann's project, including Truth in Media, and you can find her ongoing investigation here:



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To conclude, Ben Swann is an actual foreign agent and propagandist, who has received millions of dollars to produce pro-Kremlin propaganda while living comfortably in Atlanta.

It also seems that he's made some false statements in his FARA filings.

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Dec 20
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American radio host and propagandist, Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow). He’s best known for blaming Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine on the US, and for publishing a 700-page book full of Kremlin propaganda.

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Most of you probably remember Scotty from this recent episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, in which he was schooled for his revisionist propaganda by Ukrainian volunteer and activist Anastasiya Paraskevova (@UkrainianAna).

2/23
Let’s start with the obvious - Scott Horton is a hardcore Kremlin apologist who sees nothing wrong with what Putin does, but strongly condemns anything that Ukrainians do to defend themselves. For Horton,the enemy is the US and all of its allies. The way this works is that…
3/23
Read 24 tweets
Dec 4
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the sad (but funny) state of Finnish vatniks. After Russia launched their full-scale invasion against Ukraine, the Finnish pro-Kremlin/conspiracy theorist scene experienced a dramatic devaluation and hasn’t been able to bounce back since.
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I often get asked about the current state of the Finnish vatnik club, and there’s usually not much to report.

It’s not because these people have stopped, but because today their work has only comedic value.

So here’s the latest:

2/20
Master vatnik and traitor Johan Bäckman has relocated to Russia, and he was recently given a Russian citizenship. It’s obvious that Johan was recruited by Russia’s intelligence agencies a long time ago. He’s still producing videos on YouTube on his…

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Read 21 tweets
Nov 29
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Romanian politician and conspiracy theorist, Călin Georgescu (@calin_georgescu). He’s best-known for his pro-Kremlin and conspiratorial views, running for president of Romania, and doing it by only campaigning on TikTok.

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Georgescu has a doctorate in pedology (a branch of soil science), and held various positions in Romania’s environment ministry during the 90s.

Between 1999-2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.

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He was proposed as Romania’s prime minister in 2011, 2012 and 2016 by Romanian far-right parties, but he rose to international infamy in 2024, when he ran for president of Romania independently and obtained the most votes (22,95%) out of all candidates in the first round.

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Read 26 tweets
Nov 28
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Canadian journalist and alleged Soviet/Russian spy, David Pugliese (@davidpugliese). He’s best-known for his articles about “Ukrainian Nazis”, and for allegedly being a spy for both the Soviet Union and later Russia.

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Several months ago I was anonymously sent a pile of documents from the mid-80s originating from the KGB archives in Kyiv. These documents outlined a KGB recruitment into “Stuart”, or David Pugliese who “works in foreign mass media” and who is…

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..“studied with the perspective of possible operative use”. Another document described “Stuart’s” contact “Ivan”, who allegedly became his handler.Some have speculated that “Ivan” is Fred Weir, a correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor.He’s lived in Moscow since 1986.
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Read 22 tweets
Nov 11
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American far-right social media personality, Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes). He’s best-known for his white supremacist, misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric, and for being the poster boy for the so-called incel movement.

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Like so many from the white supremacist movement, Fuentes dropped out of university after his freshman year. He studied introductory international relations, which apparently made him a geopolitics expert. Nick was introduced to the white supremacist movement at an…

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..early age - he took part in the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville,Virginia. In 2017, Fuentes launched his political talk show “America First”. Initially the show was aired on Trump-aligned Right Side Broadcasting Network, but it was dropped after the rally.
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Read 20 tweets
Nov 7
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss foreign malign influence operations during the 2024 US elections. As in 2016 and 2020, these recent elections were also a target of massive disinformation and hacking campaigns originating mostly from Russia and Iran.

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First of all, my opinion is that these influence operations alone didn’t affect the elections so much, that they actually made a difference.

Unlike in 2016, Trump’s win over Harris was clear and these short-term campaigns didn’t really change that much this time.

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Yet, many of these online campaigns attacked both Harris and Walz on various social media platforms. Especially Walz became a big target after his nomination, and many Russian efforts attempted to defame him.

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Read 18 tweets

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