"Solovyov for the youth": how simple Moscow technoblogger Stas Ai, Kak Prosto became a pro-war propagandist on YouTube
On December 21, YouTube removed all channels of former technoblogger Stas Ai, Kak Prosto for violating community rules. Stas promised to block all Ukrainian channels on which "we (Russians – Nataxxa's note) are urged to kill," and complained about the hosting's failure to comply with its own rules, despite the fact that the Community Rules state that if you lose one account you can lose access to other accounts or the ability to create new accounts.
On 10 months of war, I talk about Stas' media strategy and how he became the most active war propagandist on the video platform.
Stas Vasilyev, better known in professional circles as Stas Ai, Kak Prosto (Wow, How Simple), started as a technoblogger when he was still working at Mitinsky Radio Market. In addition to the main channel, he created an additional channel iKakProsto2. It is currently unavailable for obvious reasons, but earlier Stas said that he planned to abandon it. Nevertheless, it was with it that Stas's history as a broad-based blogger began. On his second channel, he began making critical videos as part of the "Stas Bombit" rubric. You could often hear him reacting hyper-emotionally to someone else's remarks, shouting and cussing in the videos.
From that point on, he felt empowered to create a channel with exposés of other bloggers. In 2018, his additional channel Max Power gained popularity: there he recorded scathing exposés on Danila Poperechny, the Kemerovo blogger duo Nemagiya (he dismissively called them "gay organized crime group" because he allegedly found one of their profiles on a gay dating website), Dmitry Larin, and his main industry competitor, technoblogger Wylsacom. In early 2020, he decided to take a swing at such a public figure as Alexei Navalny, constantly promising viewers a "review" on the politician, but after the poisoning of the latter, he said that the review would be "completely harmless".
Stas based his online activities on "looking for traitors among ours" — he made Internet investigations concerning certain bloggers with ties to the Kremlin. This helped create a false image of a fighter for truth — instead of discussing politics, Vasilyev discussed how bloggers posing as opposition figures were working on two fronts. And it paid him back.
Stas himself, when asked why he criticized specific bloggers without referring to political personalities, said that he repeatedly and frequently criticized the government. In fact, it is impossible to find any clear statement of Stas against the government on the Web, except for the rightist criticism after the war began. We are simply supposed to believe that he did. In a certain sense, the halo effect works: we don't know for sure if he said anything like that anywhere, but in our minds he already exists as a nonconformist and a fighter against those in power. Which means we don't even have to look — since he said he spoke out in such a way, he probably did.
Criticism of bloggers can also be seen as a method of "distraction to an unfit object" (Translation from Russian). This allows all the anger to be directed at "bloggers who fooled you" without affecting authority.
In addition, Vasilyev often appeals to completely invalid arguments, trying to convince doubters that he is not a sellout blogger. And, it should be noted, he is magically good at this: I still have a hard time calling him a pro-Kremlin blogger — I’m just not used to it yet. Nevertheless, I tend to think that at this point in his career he is not getting paid for his position. Bad for him — being a "useful idiot" is hardly cooler than getting these racks from those who kill your and neighbor country’s citizens.
In fact, it was him who set up the transformation of Stas' media image for himself: already in 2020, he often said that he watched Vladimir Solovyov "for fun" on his streamers. But after a while, Stas began to exhibit some of the worst traits of Vladimir Solovyov's behavior: for example, I am convinced that he is the one from whom Vasilyev adopted the manner of shouting and insulting the viewer in response to his comments. In Ai, Kak Prosto's thinking, conspiracy theories became visible: for example, he cussed his donator out and told him that there was no partition of Poland, recommending that he read "how Poland was going to divide the Soviet Union" as justification. Even if Poland was planning the partition the USSR (which sounds frightening at this point, since the invasion of Ukraine was under the banner of "if we had not attacked, they would have attacked us"), it is not very clear how this refutes the thesis about the very fact of the partition of Poland.
Because of his "diversionary tactics" and aggressive behavior, propaganda observer Anton Pikuli called Vasilyev "Solovyov for the youth" in Yuri Dud's video.
This year, after the start of the war, Vasilyev made a film called "Donbass Diary", in which he repeated all the talking points that Putin's propagandists use to justify the invasion. For example, he met directly with the occupants, who told his audience that no one had touched people before 2014, and that shelling was carried out exclusively by the AFU. In addition, Vasilyev allowed the spread of false information: for instance, after visiting the "Alley of Angels," he showed a photo of Nastia Muravyova and presented her as having died during the shelling of residential areas by the AFU. The girl died in June 2021. The disclosure of his fakes by Alexander Stefanov was removed from the video service by a complaint from Stas himself.
Stas's business card as a media person, however, is the image of a "boor," which supposedly justifies his behavior and statements. In fact, this has long been the case: bloggers who sit in good studios and get good money for their content internalize this lifestyle, spin into it, and cannot help but be aware of their influence on shaping public opinion.
Nevertheless, the invalid arguments hiding behind the mask of "the same old guy" are easily recognized by those who do not allow themselves to be bullshitted. Stas has had quite a few revelations lately, and he responds to the most solid ones according to a well-established pattern. His counterarguments include completely ignoring the points that accuse him of lying, ridiculing and hyperbolizing his opponent's mistakes in order to make him look foolish, and cutting random moments with the interlocutor, which Stas also shoves in several dozen times throughout the whole video. For example, in the Andro News exposé video, Stas inserted Kovtun breathing in air several times at completely inappropriate moments (Vasilyev mocked the fact that Andro News did not cut out breaths from the video and made them seem excessively loud). Alexander Stefanov was mocked for adding to the black screen an animation of white rose petals flying down.
At the end of watching the video, the author's only recollection of his opponent's line is that he has terrible shortness of breath or he doesn't know how to edit and inserts a cringe-worthy plug-in with roses. This creates a pseudo-consensus: if this person is that bad at editing or (insert any sphere that doesn't involve the actual side of the conflict), then there's nothing to argue about with him.
In the spring, Stas recorded a video in English. To be honest, I didn't watch it, and now I'm not going to. My last straw was on March, 6 — since then I don't read any of his social media statements and try to limit all contact with his YouTube channels. I have no idea about his English level, but the fact that he's trying to take his content internationally is evident. However, no one is interested in him in the West either: the right-wing is much better known for, say, Tucker Carlson or the rookie nazi Kanye West.
Now that all of Stas' channels have been removed, convos about who should be allowed free speech flare up again and are artificially fueled. As practice shows, it is the main scoundrels, and it is in the moments when they are restricted that right, that appeal to it. During the heyday of Vladislav Pozdniakov, the chief sexist of Russian Internet, there were also convos about whether everyone needs freedom of speech. And in many circles they were unequivocally of the opinion that no platform should be given to hardened fascists and pests, because freedom of speech does not equal permissiveness.
Since the beginning of the war, these "Pozdniakovs" are propagandists. No matter whether you broadcast on TV or YouTube — if you support the mass murder of people and justify the crimes of the Russian army, don't be surprised if you are not recognized on international platforms.
P.S. Vasilyev is also in the Anticorruption Foundation's "List of bribetakers and warmongers".