Vatnikan: Issue 001 — How David Sacks helps to spread conspiracy theories and Russian propaganda
“Vatnikan” is a series of articles exposing prominent figures who willingly play the role of useful idiots for dictators, fueling the spread of fake news and propaganda. This time, the spotlight is on David Sacks, a trusted friend of Elon Musk.
David Sacks is an American entrepreneur, author, and investor, originally born in Cape Town, South Africa, to a Lithuanian-Jewish family. He moved to the United States at age five. Sacks is recognized as a successful angel investor with notable investments in Airbnb, Facebook, SpaceX, and Uber. He is a member of the so-called “PayPal Mafia,” a group of former PayPal founders and early employees, including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, who have founded and developed other successful technology companies.
Sacks’ argument was that the 17-year-old victim ‘still had the physical coordination to perform oral sex,’ and ‘presumably could have uttered the word, ‘no.’
Thiel and Sacks met at Stanford, working on Thiel’s campus newspaper. In 1992, they released the scandalous “The Rape Issue” of that very paper, where Sacks vigorously defended a senior student accused of statutory rape. Sacks’ argument was that the 17-year-old victim ‘still had the physical coordination to perform oral sex,’ and ‘presumably could have uttered the word, ‘no.’
An interesting tidbit: another member of the “PayPal Mafia,” Keith Rabois, who co-authored and contributed to “The Rape Issue,” stepped down as Square’s COO in 2013 after being accused of sexual harassment.
In 1995, Sacks and Thiel co-authored a book titled “The Diversity Myth.” It criticized political correctness and multiculturalism in higher education, supported their friend’s Keith Rabois anti-LGBTQ outbursts, and dismissed the date rape and sexual assaults. Following a backlash due to Sacks’ comments on date rape, where he referred to them as “seductions that were later regretted,” he later retracted his statements.
Another interesting tidbit: Peter Thiel, an openly gay evangelical Christian, hardcore libertarian, and a former Trump delegate, secretly funded a $10 million dollar effort to destroy and shut down Gawker Media company completely for calling out his hypocrisy.
Epstein has also arranged meetings between Thiel and Russian ambassador to the UN.
Peter Thiel has also appeared in the “Epstein list,” a collection of names and contacts that were associated with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier who faced allegations of trafficking and sexually abusing young women and girls.
Epstein has also arranged meetings between Thiel and Russian ambassador to the UN.
In 2023, David Sacks has become a prominent voice on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, US policy toward it, and particularly US military funding for Ukraine. However, some of his claims and narratives, such as the so-called “Ukrainian Neo-Nazis” or “US biolabs in Ukraine,” have sparked significant controversy and align with discredited Russian propaganda narratives.
David Sacks follows and frequently shares fake news from the notorious misinformation source, Mike Cernovich.
Sacks follows and frequently shares fake news from the notorious misinformation source, Mike Cernovich. Mike Cernovich is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Cernovich gained notoriety for his anti-feminist blogging, promoting fake news, conspiracy theories, and smear campaigns. He was a prominent figure in the Gamergate harassment campaign and promoted conspiracy theories about Democratic candidates. Notably, he helped spread the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child-sex ring.
Cernovich himself was arrested and charged with rape in 2003, a disturbing pattern that appears to run through Sacks’ circle of pals and coworkers. Just a couple of nice guys bonding over rape, anti-feminism, and anti-diversity.
One of the popular debunked myths David Sacks helped to propagate is about “nazis burning russians in Odesa in 2014.” The tragic fire in the Trade Unions building in Odesa on May 2, 2014, which resulted in the deaths of 48 people, has been central to the narrative of “Ukrainian nazis” burning Russian-speakers alive. This event occurred in the context of confrontations between Euromaidan (pro-unity and pro-Ukraine) and Antimaidan (pro-Russia) supporters, following the Euromaidan revolution and the beginning of Russian military actions in Crimea. During the clashes, some pro-Russian activists barricaded themselves in the Odesa Trade Unions House. Shots and petrol bombs were fired by both sides. The fire was reportedly caused by a Molotov cocktail thrown into the building during a confrontation, but it is unclear who threw it, as the fire was on the third floor. The event has been extensively examined by the 2nd of May group, a coalition seeking an unbiased investigation into the fire.
When the building caught fire and people started jumping from the windows, some Euromaidan (pro-Ukrainian) activists stepped in to rescue them. They assisted them in landing safely and constructed a makeshift structure for climbing down. Additionally, they entered the building to search for survivors and aided in evacuating those in need.
David Sacks has a mere 6 Twitter/X subscriptions, and one of them is his subscription to Clandestine, a known spreader of baseless conspiracy theories about US biolabs in Ukraine.
David Sacks has a mere 6 Twitter/X subscriptions, and one of them is his subscription to Clandestine, a known spreader of baseless conspiracy theories about US biolabs in Ukraine.
Media sources have extensively covered and debunked the myths surrounding alleged U.S. biolabs in Ukraine. Russian officials and state media have been spreading disinformation claiming that the United States is funding the development of dangerous bioweapons labs in Ukraine. This narrative was utilized to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it was amplified and spread by China.
US biolabs myth misrepresented the U.S. Department of Defense’s Biological Threat Reduction Program, that started in 2005. This program was actually aimed at providing technical support to improve and protect public health laboratories in Ukraine and a few other countries of former Soviet Union, not to create bioweapons or covert labs. It echoes the Soviet KGB’s ‘Operation Infection’ disinformation campaign, which aimed to spread the baseless claim that HIV/AIDS originated in a U.S. military lab.
David Sacks perpetuates yet another widely circulated pro-Russian myth: that Ukrainian Donbas has been “the location of a civil war” for eight years.
David Sacks perpetuates yet another widely circulated pro-Russian myth: that Ukrainian Donbas has been “the location of a civil war” for eight years. This assertion blatantly ignores the indisputable fact that this conflict was initiated, fabricated, and coordinated by the Russian military, pro-Russian separatist commanders, and even Putin himself openly acknowledged it.
Email leaks and published audio surveillance files, known as the Glazyev Tapes, confirm the Kremlin’s involvement in the armed conflict in Donbas and starkly illustrate that fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine was just one aspect of Moscow’s broader policy to undermine the Ukrainian state.
In essence, David Sacks seems trapped within a Z-shaped pro-Russian fake news bubble, displaying a glaring lack of understanding regarding the history of Russia and Ukraine. Yet, his influence and substantial following make him a dangerous useful idiot for the Putin’s regime.
