In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss social media superspreaders. Due to their effectiveness, superspreader accounts are often used to spread "low credibility" content, disinformation and propaganda, and today this is more often done by hostile state actors such as Russia.
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DeVerna et al. (2024) described superspreaders as "users who consistently disseminate a disproportionately large amount of low-credibility content," also known as bullshit. It’s worth noting, that some of these people may actually believe the lies they spread.
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The numbers behind these accounts are astonishing – a study by Grinberg et al. (2019) found out that 0,1% of Twitter accounts were responsible for sharing approximately 80% of the mis/disinformation related to the 2016 US presidential election.
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The same applies to COVID-19 related disinformation, as only 12 accounts the researchers referred to as the "dirty dozen", produced 65% of the anti-vaccine content on Twitter. The most famous of this group is the presidential candidate RFK Jr.:
These accounts are naturally amplified by often state-sponsored troll and bot farms. Inorganic amplifying can make the content seem more attractive to regular people through massive amount of likes and shares, a technique that’s based on basic behavioral sciences.
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When it comes to geopolitics and especially the situation in Ukraine, we can easily name a few of the most prominent superspreader accounts who have no interest in the truth: Jackson Hinkle, Kim Dotcom, Ian Miles Cheong, Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson and Russell Brand.
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Another good way to spot superspreaders is to check the "Community Notes leaderboard" website, where Jackson Hinkle holds the position number 4, Cheong is at 7th position, and Elon Musk himself can be found at spot #39.
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Naturally, the platform’s owner also often comments and shares content from these people & even engages in conversations with them on Spaces, because apparently he wants to be surrounded by conspiratorial "Yes Men",instead of doing tough interviews with people like Don Lemon.8/14
Most superspreader accounts have very little interest in the truth, as the nature of social media encourages you to go for maximum engagement (likes, shares, comments). On X, this even affects your ad share revenue, basically allowing people to earn money through lies.
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There are many examples of pro-Kremlin narratives being spread by these accounts. One of them is the lie that Zelenskyy "bought a mansion from King Charles". The news came from a AI-generated fake news blog, and was spread by large accounts like Liz Churchill’s.
10/14
Another fake story about the "US-funded Ukrainian bioweapons labs" that even made it to the mainstream was started by QAnon follower Jacob Creech AKA @WarClandestine, who later on bragged about making money from the ad share revenue system of X.
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Most of the content promoted and made up by these large accounts draw inspiration from various conspiracy theories like QAnon, PizzaGate, or The Great Reset. They often also share photos in wrong context, for example photos from Syria are told to be from Gaza.
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As I’ve stated many times before, there are no downsides to rage farming and spreading lies online, and after Elon took over it has actually become a viable monetization strategy that can make you relatively rich.
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Hostile state actors have also figured out the potential of using superspreaders to amplify their false narratives. For example, Russia's embassy accounts often tag people like Jackson Hinkle in their posts, hoping they'd share the content to their large following.
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.
2/20
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.
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.
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.
1/21
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.
2/21
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.
1/21
Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.
2/21
Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’m going to talk about… Vatnik Soup! As some of you know, we also have a website where you can find every soup ever published. The site also has other useful resources, making it the most comprehensive resource on Russian disinformation & vatniks.
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Unfortunately, Elon has flagged the website as malware, as he might not be very happy about the soups I wrote about him - so far, they have garnered over 60 million views on X/Twitter.
The “freedom of speech” spokesperson doesn’t seem too keen on free speech, after all.
2/15
The heart & soul of the website is of course the soups page. There you can find all 360+ soups, which can be sorted chronologically, by popularity, etc. You can also search for soups by title or even in the soup text: