Phidias Fidius has infiltrated, using social media, charisma, charm and common sense, one of the most powerful bureaucratic institutions in the world, the European Parliament. From inside, he has exposed, if not corruption, the peculiar way that it works, whether that be Ursula von der Leyen s apparent institutional power, or Albert Baller s private text messages to Albert. You might know Phidias from her private texts to Albert, where she did significant deals with Pfizer without thinking to consult the public, the people that pay her wages. In this video, you re going to see the future. In this special edition of Stay Free With Russell Brand, I'm joined by the brilliant journalist and political disruptor, Pippa Fidesz, to discuss the future of the EU Parliament, the role of technology in politics, and why Elon Musk is the best thing that's ever happened to the world. Stay Free with Russell Brand! Subscribe to stay free with Russell on all socials to get exclusive ad-free versions of the show wherever you get your favourite shows and listen to the latest releases. If you haven t subscribed to Stay Free, you're not listening to the right version of the podcast. You won't want to miss it! It's free, it's free and it's good, it'll help spread the word about what's going on in this podcast. You'll get access to all the great stuff I'm putting out there, so you can be a part of it. I'm making it everywhere you listen to it, too. You can be part of the conversation, too! - Russell Brand - Thank you for listening to stayfree with me, and I'm spreading the word of this podcast, everywhere you go it's possible to be a bit more than that, right here, everywhere else you can do it, right across the globe, and everywhere you get a chance to see it, everywhere, no matter where you get it, no more of it's a good one, right, no less than that's possible, right in the whole thing. Thank you, thank you, thanks, thank me, I'll hear you're listening to me. - R.M. (Thank you, R. Thank you R.S. BECAUSE R.A. R.E. (and I'm not allowed to do it) - P.M., R. M. ( )
00:02:36.000If you've not heard of Phidias yet, you're not using social media properly because this might be the most dangerous and innovative guest that I could have brought on if what you're interested in is political disruption.
00:02:46.000Fidius has infiltrated, using social media, charisma, charm, and common sense, one of the most powerful bureaucratic institutions in the world, the European Parliament, and from inside has exposed, if not corruption, the peculiar way that it works, whether that's Ursula von der Leyen, And her apparent institutional power?
00:03:06.000You might know Ursula von der Leyen from her private text messages to Albert Baller where she did significant deals with Pfizer without thinking to consult the public, the people that pay her wages.
00:03:17.000Without Elon Musk's patronage, maybe Fidesz wouldn't have reached the extraordinary positions he's reached now.
00:03:23.000But let's just unpack some of his success, some of his power, and how popular politics through social media might be about to change the world forever.
00:03:33.000Ursula von der Leyen is trying to become again the president of the European Commission, which is the most important political position in the European Union.
00:03:41.000I am one of the 720 members of the European Parliament and soon we're going to approve her or not.
00:03:48.000I decided that I would put a poll on my social media and you guys will decide if you want me to vote for her or against her.
00:03:55.000Stay tuned because through me now you have a voice for the future of Europe.
00:04:00.000Man, you're very good on camera as well.
00:04:04.000Years ago, when reality TV came about and there were lots of shows about voting for bands or pop stars, I thought, how long before this technology gets deployed politically?
00:04:14.000And of course, we could be waiting a very long time for it to be deployed politically, because if you did use that technology, you'd be able to have referenda and mandates and the will of the people politically represented.
00:04:25.000But you are actually the first person I've ever seen using political power in that way and of course it's come to the attention of Elon Musk.
00:04:34.000It's pretty important that his patronage has been offered to you.
00:04:38.000That's one of the things I suppose that means that you now have a strong power base and are going to continue to have quite a lot of impact I imagine.
00:04:45.000Yes, it's crazy for me to see the most powerful person in the world to say he has the right super important decision.
00:04:52.000It's the coolest thing that could happen in my life.
00:04:58.000It gives me a lot of leverage, a lot of power, it gives me a lot of opportunities.
00:05:02.000So, Elon, thank you for making this gift.
00:05:05.000I can't believe how responsibly you're using that power though, because this, imagine if this was something that was being made by 60 Minutes in America, or a serious Channel 4 documentary in the UK.
00:05:17.000This would be regarded as the kind of journalism that's required.
00:05:34.000And in addition to that, every working day I come here in the Parliament and sign, I get another €350, which is a bit strange.
00:05:43.000Apart from that, I have €30,000 per month for the salaries of my team.
00:05:48.000Also, I can have an office in my country and they give me €5,000 a month for that.
00:05:53.000In addition to all the previous stuff, I have another €4,000 a month to promote my work that I'm doing here in the Parliament.
00:06:01.000Another cool expense, I'm allowed to use €10,000 a month to bring people here in the Parliament for a few days to meet and understand what we are doing here.
00:06:10.000In addition to all this money, I get some benefits, like having a driver here in Brussels to drive me around, and also business class tickets to fly back to my country.
00:06:20.000And I'm curious to hear if you think we are overpaid or underpaid.
00:06:29.000Well, people think that we're overpaid, but it's very interesting because I can do journalism also from the inside and say the truth and also be a politician, which is very interesting.
00:06:41.000I think I have a big responsibility, huge responsibility.
00:06:45.000What I'm really struck by is that you are changing politics in a way that very deliberate activists are probably unable to.
00:06:59.000Like the fact that you do polls online where you allow your constituents or your followers or supporters or whatever is the correct thing to call them now to determine what you do.
00:07:11.000For me, it feels like a very pure expression of politics, where people in elected positions are responding directly to a mandate, not responding to a centralized authority, but responding to the people they were elected to represent.
00:07:28.000Are you aware how, I see that on your shirt you have hashtag new politics, are you aware of how innovative what you are doing is?
00:10:02.000Or is this potentially the new face of politics?
00:10:08.000Meaning that various independent candidates could rise up in districts everywhere and represent their constituents in the way that you are, using technology to derive direct mandate on almost every issue.
00:10:24.000Because, like, our viewers will be familiar with Ursula von der Leyen.
00:10:29.000Ursula von der Leyen is, of course... She's my boss.
00:10:31.000Tell us a little bit about Ursula von der Leyen for our viewers.
00:10:34.000So Ursula von der Leyen is the High Commissioner in Europe.
00:10:38.000So basically we have the Commission in the European Parliament and it's a bit complicated how Europe works but it's basically the head of Europe, Ursula von der Leyen.
00:10:46.000So I put a poll on my social media because I'm trying to As powerful I was in Cyprus with the social media, I tried to become similar, have similar power in the parliament as well with social media.
00:11:00.000Because when you have social media, people, you have leverage for people to hear you, for you to have meetings, for people, I don't know, to afraid or to vote what you want.
00:11:09.000So I'm trying to do this, have this leverage in the parliament as well.
00:11:13.000But I put a poll in my social media What do you want me to vote?
00:11:18.000Vote yes for Ursula von der Leyen or no?
00:11:21.000And like 80% of the viewers from Cyprus, from around the world, they said, out of 300,000 votes, they said that they don't want her.
00:11:33.000So I find this a bit strange, to be honest, that people of Europe actually don't want her to be the High Commissioner and she still got elected.
00:11:55.000Also, you have emerged from social media.
00:11:57.000But just in the example you've given us there, You are talking about very powerful mandates where hundreds of thousands of people are being polled and asked what they want.
00:12:08.000And what they want, our viewers won't be surprised to learn, is at odds with what centralized authority Yes, and this I think is true in the EU where you are a member of the European Parliament, but this is true in American politics and British politics and it actually, I suppose, is a demonstration of the sense that many people have that exist in your space and our space and the connections that come from the two areas where we work.
00:12:37.000That politicians and leaders of institutions do not work for the people, they either work for the institutions themselves, and those institutions have been corporatized and co-opted by power that is not always easy to understand, but can perhaps be best understood as maybe financial power, the power of global corporations, just being one example.
00:13:41.000So the system yet is not ready for a lot of power for the independent people.
00:13:46.000But I think slowly, slowly, as more and more will get elected, I will try myself to give a bit more space and more freedom and give more justice to the independent and get more rights, let's say, in the parliament.
00:14:00.000But yeah, I think this will be kind of the future.
00:14:03.000And you're talking more about direct democracy, which is very interesting.
00:14:08.000Like, you know, I feel that I know kind of what people need and want from social media.
00:14:14.000I put a video and I have hundreds of comments, thousands of comments, and I get the sense of the people.
00:14:23.000Like, you need to be the voice of the people.
00:14:25.000This is kind of representative democracy.
00:14:27.000So I think we are the ones that can do this because the parties, I don't know, they don't have the mechanism, they don't have Or maybe the parties can become cool.
00:14:38.000What you have in the way that you're communicating is fascinating as well because say when I think about independent political figures that are popular nowadays, say Bobby Kennedy who came from a really maligned and marginal space, anti-vaccines, anti-big pharma, environmental lawyer, was very very controversial figure in mainstream media that operates as a gatekeeper to prevent independent figures Gaining popularity or if I think of British figures like Tommy Robinson He's very strongly associated with British nationalism, but also say concern or even Depending on whether you like him or not prejudice against Muslim communities, you know there people would see that differently depending on where they were politically
00:15:29.000But what I'm fascinated about you, Phidias, is that you are anti-establishment.
00:15:49.000And I think that that might be a really interesting way of conducting politics.
00:15:55.000One, because it will Because people do want different things and that leads to decentralization.
00:16:01.000I've just come from the Bitcoin conference and it seems to me, and I don't know very much about Bitcoin, I know that you have spoken about it some, that what Bitcoin is by its nature is transparent because of the way that you can observe the nature of the transactions and it is decentralized.
00:16:17.000There is no central institution or bank that is controlling the currency.
00:16:22.000And we're already seeing in media decentralization.
00:16:25.000You, a popular YouTuber, me, you have then taken the step that I think terrifies them of saying I'm going to use the power I've got that is derived from the audience.
00:16:35.000By the way, they're fucking terrified in my country, the parties.
00:16:38.000Imagine, a kid, 24 years old, they are like 50 years of organization, and I got more votes in combined So they are confused.
00:17:29.000Yeah, this kind of transparency is, I think, terrifying for them as well.
00:17:33.000I think that they like these institutions to be preserved and controlled.
00:17:38.000A political figure like Ursula von der Leyen, who did deals by text message with Pfizer for millions and millions of vaccines that were later not used, whose husband works for a big pharma company that benefited from those Corporations and those kind of deals, they don't want people knowing what's going on in there.
00:17:57.000They don't want 25 year old kids from Cyprus that have more of an idea of what the Populare, the population, believe in than they do and are much more interested in demonstrating, representing the views of those people than they are.
00:18:11.000These people, it seems to me, about elitism, establishment control, will tell you what to do.
00:18:18.000We will give you limited options and you will choose from the limited options.
00:18:23.000It seems that you are coming from an opposite perspective and it makes me curious about, is that deliberate?
00:18:29.000The way you've arrived at this place of like, I'll do whatever you want.
00:18:33.000Do you want, because I remember you did a poll on whether or not you would join the Green Party or remain independent.
00:18:38.000You just asked your audience, what do you want me to do?
00:18:40.000This for me is so innovative and yet somehow so obvious, but no one's done it before.
00:18:46.000No one's gotten into a position to do it.
00:18:49.000Phidias, before you answer that question, we're going to leave YouTube now because if you start talking about radical information that could bring down the government, that could collapse all of these institutions and interconnected corporate networks that dominate and control, they're not going to broadcast that, are they?
00:19:20.000But I think, let's say, when we have more, I think, independent in the future, I think I trust more an independent critical thinker than any party that will do his adjustment with his team.
00:19:32.000He will say, OK, we need to vote about these things.
00:19:34.000These are the topics that we are interested in.
00:19:39.000And if I know his background and what he believes and all this stuff, But I managed to get elected in my country, it's very strange, ladies and gentlemen, without saying anything about my political positions.
00:19:52.000I was just saying about education, that it sucks.
00:19:55.000And people still saw the authenticity and that I'm honest about what I'm saying, and still voted for me.
00:20:03.000So people maybe don't need what we think that uh what politicians think they want for people for them to vote for them so i think that what people want to vote for you is changing as well slowly slowly you mean that people might not want the for all i know this might be a greek word uh demagogues that tell people what to do and what to think people might want
00:20:33.000A open representative who says, what do you want?
00:20:38.000Because even in a country like mine and a politician like Keir Starmer, whilst I would say that these are ultimately authoritarian politicians who look for ways to legislate and control, usually by saying this will keep you safe.
00:20:51.000They also, it's commonly understood that politicians these days are continually having focus groups and running polls and what is it we need to say?
00:21:00.000They have their own version of appeasing the electorate or appealing to voters usually in order to get a mandate so that they can then serve real global corporatist power.
00:21:12.000But what you're saying is, is that you listen and involve in a dialogue with the electorate and then demonstrate their will.
00:21:36.000Everyone knows kind of the green party and how party.
00:21:39.000I think people are educated to get these decisions and they're clever enough to make Wise decisions about this stuff, but about the small details about these technical things, I think I will not put polls about everything.
00:21:52.000I form a team and because I understand that I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I can...
00:22:35.000If I live, I don't think that I have the most power, to be honest, as a member of the European Parliament to change the world.
00:22:42.000But I think doing this with social media and showing to the world what is happening and like how Europe works and what is this, open the black box for everyone.
00:22:52.000I think that would be my biggest contribution for the next five years.
00:22:55.000I like your metaphor of the black box because I think that media is also a black box.
00:23:03.000People don't know what the relationships are between commercial partners and political influencers.
00:23:09.000For example, when the Twitterphile stories came out and we found How much the CIA and the FBI were inside social media sites.
00:23:17.000And we all know that there have been operations for many years, certainly since the 60s, 50s, if you want to talk about McCarthyism or Operation Mockingbird or MKUltra, where there is penetration of media organizations by the deep state to control information.
00:23:32.000So just by being revealing about media or being revealing about the European Parliament or being revealing about the judiciary, you're starting to expose people to new information.
00:23:42.000And I think what's important about that, because I recognize your humility,
00:23:45.000oh I'm not the most intelligent person in the world, but I think a lot of people have become tired of being
00:24:01.000And you know, I was getting the most views in my country for a six month period because people love politics in a cool way, not in a boring way.
00:24:09.000And I think all these videos that I'm making, they're getting millions of views, every single video that I'm making in the parliament.
00:25:47.000It's weird to have all this power, but hopefully I will make a lot of mistakes.
00:25:52.000Hopefully I will use it in a good way.
00:25:54.000What it makes me realize is the way that power hierarchies operate is open for debate and disruption.
00:26:03.000Why should we assume when we look at a political figure like Boris Johnson or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris That these people should have power, but you shouldn't have power.
00:26:16.000Ordinary people watching this, participating in this with us, shouldn't have power.
00:26:20.000What you've demonstrated is, if we are truly to create systems of government that are based on consensus and conversation, then you need a different skill set.
00:26:32.000And the institutions and establishment institutions that call themselves democracy now, are about preservation of power.
00:26:44.000They're not about this is what people seem to want.
00:26:47.000They're about how do we appease people, distract people, control people, while engaging in a conversation, pretending they are getting what they want.
00:26:57.000Phineas, will you tell me, mate, that a minute ago you talked about how there are some issues Where you require consultation and that seems obvious.
00:27:06.000There are complex matters from anything from defence to economics.
00:27:12.000There is such a thing as learning and as epistemology and knowledge and understanding and experience.
00:27:53.000So you need to kind of pay attention to what is happening in all the comedies, but you need to contribute too.
00:27:59.000So I chose the stuff that I know, kind of.
00:28:02.000I chose to... There is one petition, so kind of everyone in Europe can Kind of apply their ideas for the Parliament to make them in reality.
00:28:15.000So I will use... So we get a lot of requests and we see what we like and we... So I thought that being a YouTuber having millions of views, I will promote this so everyone in Europe will apply their ideas for us to do them in the Parliament.
00:29:06.000I'm 24 years old, but I had a lot of years of experience of being a businessman, because I'm a successful YouTuber for 5-6 years, and now I'm doing YouTube.
00:29:15.000I hire people, I understand how business works.
00:29:18.000So I put jobs, and I found other people that work in the parliament for 20 years, and I hired them.
00:29:29.000I like their ideas, I like their... and also I have My high school teacher, physics teacher, I think she is the smartest person in the world.
00:29:41.000Your teacher works for you now as an advisor.
00:29:55.000So I need people that they have my back.
00:29:57.000So I needed a person that knows me and he cares about me as well.
00:30:02.000So, but yeah, this is kind of how I formed a team.
00:30:06.000And it's, you know, It's not that difficult.
00:30:09.000It's been 35, it's been two months now that I'm in the parliament, and I'm sure, because a lot of the politicians, it's funny, but it's funny how the world works.
00:30:19.000It's like they are afraid, the new members of the parliament, they are afraid to ask questions.
00:30:23.000They are like, oh, they are like, oh, I know how to do it.
00:30:27.000In two months, I learned more stuff than any member of the European Parliament, because I'm asking.
00:32:09.000The combination of humility and confidence is pretty powerful actually because it means that you're not assuming that you know but you are willing to ask for new information.
00:32:20.000I didn't know of course because I'd never sought to ask or inquire or learn that the way that the European Parliament works is that there are 20 committees and you can elect to be in two or three of them but you vote across all of those committees.
00:32:33.000I wonder if during that time you have sensed A way that an agenda is being pushed.
00:32:39.000The parties are so fucking powerful and I don't like this because, for example, you know the 720 MEPs, they are in parties.
00:32:53.00033 of them, they are independent like me.
00:32:55.000So basically because they are bored or Let's not say bored, but the way that system works is you are not following the 20 committees.
00:33:05.000You are only following your three committees and your party tells you what to vote on the others.
00:33:13.000They are just whatever they want to do.
00:33:15.000And if one party do an alliance, the big party, Social and Democrats with EPP, which is the two biggest parties, if they do an alliance together, they can do whatever they want in the parliament.
00:33:26.000So it's like, uh, They are doing whatever they want.
00:33:30.000I cannot stop them, ladies and gentlemen.
00:33:34.000Hopefully in five years we become... You are just one man!
00:33:46.000And hopefully we can understand it and slowly, slowly we can change it.
00:33:52.000So when you say that two parties are able to dominate an entire political process, this is something that all of us are familiar with from our national politics.
00:34:01.000We know that there are one or two parties in most European and North American and presumably other nations that are able to dominate politics when there isn't Peculiar alliances get formed to ensure that centralized power is preserved and we operate under the assumption and sometimes the evident understanding that these political parties are funded, controlled, institutionally influenced,
00:34:27.000In ways that mean that even the individuals within that party, in fact, it was their, I mean, fellow countrymen in terms of the Greek islands, Yanis Varoufakis, who first told me after Syriza, in a similarly popular move, won the elections after 2008 in Greece.
00:34:43.000I don't know how Greek and Cypriot politics align, to tell you the truth.
00:34:52.000He told me that after they won the elections in Greece to oppose the paying back of huge bank loans that had been contributory to the crash in 2008, and they'd been elected with a mandate to not pay back those loans, to renege on them loans, That the EU called them in and said you are paying back those loans or you're going to be in some serious serious trouble and that Yanis Varoufakis was the second person in charge of the party.
00:35:22.000The dude that was in charge of the party went okay no problem and just forgot about the mandate that he'd got from the Greek people and Yanis Varoufakis left the party.
00:35:31.000He said that he realized that even the powerful person that he was talking to at the EU didn't have any real power Because the system is what's powerful and if you try to rebuke, repudiate or oppose that system, the system will get rid of you and bring someone else in who will do what they are told.
00:35:49.000But what social media could create is a situation where you are an independent candidate in one constituency, then there are other independent candidates that have a loose alliance built on a mandate derived from the people that can be used to oppose this kind of central power, couldn't it?
00:36:06.000Hopefully in the next 10 years, I think some stuff will happen like that.
00:37:56.000I mean it's like such an extraordinary thing!
00:37:59.000Maybe a bit jealous where you can find like we uh but I we're just talking about the phenomena I love everyone in the world and I don't take anything personally I think criticism online is amazing thing because imagine if there is no criticism the world will be boring it will be weird for 1 million views and like zero hate comments come on it's beautiful the online world is beautiful But I think they are a bit jealous, like, for a lot of them, like, for a kid.
00:38:27.000We went to study in the university, went to do this, and this kid, we tried for years to get elected, we did this, and this kid, like, everyone is their dream to become, their son to become, like, and they see me, like, I'd never studied in a university, and it's like, they see me getting this honor, it's like, they're like, they're kind of a bit jealous sometimes.
00:39:04.000Could I run for a political position in this country, like Mayor of London, or for a Member of Parliament?
00:39:10.000Could anyone who has a large social media following and cares about politics and reaching people potentially be in the position that you're in?
00:39:19.000And I'm not saying that you don't have very special skills.
00:39:20.000I see them from spending time with you.
00:39:22.000Your openness, your sweetness, your integrity.
00:39:24.000I don't think everyone can do it with the power of social media.
00:39:28.000Because you need to understand that What we are online, we are products.
00:39:33.000I'm a good product, you are a good product.
00:39:35.000You're selling, people like to listen to you.
00:39:39.000So you need to have this skill first, to be a good product.
00:39:42.000Maybe you can develop it slowly, maybe you need a lot of charisma and all this stuff.
00:39:47.000But when you are a good product, And with the exposure of social media, because social media is just a magnifying glass to everyone who you really are.
00:39:58.000So when you have these two combinations, I think, yes, I think, uh, I think it's very exciting.
00:40:37.000And they're still trying to shut it down in America, not to protect people, but because they recognize this is a tool for communication that could ultimately transfer from cultural power to political power.
00:40:47.000People could build big audiences and then say, we want you to vote for me on this.
00:41:04.000But I just want to ask you about this.
00:41:06.000You know, an establishment politician like Kamala Harris, when the Obamas give her their endorsement, they make a TikTok style video.
00:41:15.000It's not authentic to receive the call from the Obamas.
00:41:17.000Oh, hello, Michelle. Hello, Barack. Yeah. Oh, I'm so happy to get your endorsement.
00:41:22.000That is the recognition that TikTok now determines the outcome of elections.
00:41:27.000As you say, establishment power has had to adapt to it.
00:41:30.000And why for only politicians to use it?
00:41:32.000We the people can use it as well for this.
00:41:38.000Yeah, I think, well, Elon Musk videos talks a lot, doesn't he, about that's what people hate.
00:41:44.000They hate that on X, anybody is in the same category that a journalist has worked for a long time for an establishment newspaper or established celebrity will can be Overtaken by someone, you know, in your case, from Cyprus, who's just deciding to make content that's obviously resonating with people, then transfer that power to bureaucratic and political power.
00:42:26.000It's rocket science, but you know, when you are on social media and you are doing this stuff, it's like the people are paving kind of your path.
00:42:38.000So you upload a video, people like it.
00:42:41.000And then you upload another video, people don't like it and they have hard criticism.
00:43:34.000So, at some point, we started having some momentum, and the polls showed us after so much time, three weeks before the elections, that we actually have 5% of the vote.
00:43:48.000They were wrong, we got 20%, but they showed us that we have 5%.
00:43:52.000And then the politicians started paying attention.
00:43:54.000They were asked in the panels and they were saying bad things about me.
00:43:58.000They were saying he's immature, he's a politic, he doesn't understand politics.
00:44:02.000And we were cutting this thing because...
00:44:05.000When you are a person, your straight mind, you understand when you are attacking a 24 year old kid that just tries to help, he's making politics cool.
00:44:15.000Also, I did some very helpful things for Cyprus.
00:44:18.000For example, you are not able to register to vote like UK and you need to register to vote.
00:44:25.000So I broke the world record in Cyprus of people getting registered to vote.
00:45:43.000And I suppose what... Populism is being condemned.
00:45:46.000You know, this is, you know, reaching the people, caring about the people, listening to the people.
00:45:50.000It's cynical and people kind of don't like it and condemn it and associate it with a lot of negative ideas.
00:45:57.000But when someone like you who is very open and optimistic and clearly, plainly, transparently populist, it shows the power of listening and directing Is it a bad thing to be a populist and make people care about politics?
00:46:15.000Are you really populist when millions of people care about politics because of you?
00:46:20.000I think that's the most political move that you can do.
00:46:53.000Everyone reckon, you know, if you're a person that's concerned about climate change or if you're a person that's concerned about war, everyone thinks the world has to change.
00:47:01.000And then when people do something innovative and different that might bring about change, they try to strangle that.
00:47:23.000Maybe I need to do more shows with you and calm right down.
00:47:27.000When you were doing YouTube in America before going to Cyprus, if I understand correctly... I think it's an important point that you mentioned.
00:47:35.000Guys, OK, I'm presenting here that I'm just a stupid person that doesn't understand anything.
00:47:42.000OK, I had a bit of a success background.
00:48:00.000I traveled to 10 countries with no money.
00:48:03.000So I was doing a lot of things for me.
00:48:06.000Also, I was doing them for content, for YouTube videos, but it was real.
00:48:10.000the navy seal it was not it was not for content i needed to go to my the army in cyprus and i chose the hardest part so okay all this stuff kind of also i'm successful businessman because as a youtuber with two and a half million subscribers you make uh hundreds of thousands of dollars so okay all this And the stuff that I told you, it was a combination of me getting elected.
00:48:34.000People saw, okay, he's not completely stupid.
00:48:47.000Can you tell me, how did you first come to the attention of Elon Musk and how has the relationship with Elon Musk changed and how has it impacted your success?
00:49:05.000I think Elon Musk was kind of my education, to be honest, as a young adult and a young person.
00:49:12.000When I was 15, 16, I was watching his videos and it was how he said about history is important, philosophy is important, and I was like studying all these topics because for Elon Musk to say this, it must be important.
00:49:49.000I was sleeping in my sleeping bag outside SpaceX.
00:49:51.000It was Everyone was rejecting me, no sign of him signing me, all the guards, everyone was saying it will not happen, give up, and all this stuff.
00:50:00.000But slowly, slowly, we got 500 million views in total across the platforms of my daily series of doing all this stuff.
00:50:08.000And at the end, after three months, some kids told him in the World Cup to hug me, and he agreed to hug me.
00:50:45.000Oh, he's not completely stupid about me.
00:50:48.000And he was like, oh, that's interesting.
00:50:50.000Probably he liked the documentary and he reposted it on his account, which is crazy.
00:50:57.000Probably that's why we are here, because he reposted it.
00:51:01.000And he got like 60 million views on my documentary that talks about how we did this in Cyprus.
00:51:08.000And also it's very beautiful, like you see, for a kid like me, that is his role model, kind of, to be able to, for him to repost the thing.
00:51:33.000It's just cool to see and it gives a lot of leverage also, a lot more legitimation, a lot more everything, like it helped a lot.
00:51:44.000Yes, so out of a kind of very organic YouTube item of I'll just wait here till I hug Elon Musk, you have created a relationship and subsequently he has seen the type of work that you're doing.
00:51:58.000In a way it's a sort of, you know, I'm obviously I've been working in this space now having been in ordinary institutions of Hollywood or whatever previous to this and I see the type of people that become successful whether it's you or George Janko or Logan Paul or Mr. Beast, like the people that become stars.
00:52:16.000But what's also interesting is the areas that people explore.
00:52:21.000Some people will explore spirituality, Christianity, like George Janko.
00:52:24.000Other people, sports, say, like Logan Paul, but very much lifestyle.
00:52:28.000And Mr. Beast, who's sort of in the old days would have been like a sort of a great television innovator, who I can think of British equivalents of, but not necessarily American equivalents of.
00:52:37.000People who understand media, who understand, oh, I understand what social media, YouTube, TikTok, you name a platform, I know what they require.
00:52:46.000What's fascinating is the idea that this power, popularity and understanding can be transferred to politics.
00:52:57.000And I feel like... And that's what we saw with Mike Hunden.
00:53:56.000That's a power that's, I think, pretty frightening.
00:53:59.000But it seems because, and I wonder what this is as a result of, and sort of the thing that I'm focusing on, is your military service.
00:54:08.000Because when you were a Navy SEAL in your country, is it right that you were actually particularly deployed when it comes to underwater explosions and explosives.
00:54:21.000Almost like Nord Stream Pipeline, how to operate explosives under the water.
00:54:53.000It's the last country in the European Union, but that is still divided.
00:54:58.000Anyways, so I needed to go to, we all go to the army.
00:55:01.000So I needed to choose a place in the army.
00:55:04.000So I wanted, I will do 14 months of the army.
00:55:07.000So why not to do the most difficult one?
00:55:09.000So we went a hundred people in this specific place and we only finished 13 people.
00:55:15.000So you are going to see kind of the rate of how difficult this is.
00:55:18.000And this is very well respected in my country.
00:55:21.000This is, this is the elites of the elites and it's very privileged to be able to finish this.
00:55:27.000And also it teaches me a lot of stuff, like, personally, I know that I can't do anything.
00:55:33.000It's like, you get drowned, you see your limits, it's like eight months hell week or five days staying awake and all this stuff is very interesting and you deeply understand yourself, I think, when you are in this heavy, difficult... Can you tell me one experience and what you deeply understood about yourself from that experience?
00:57:11.000Yeah, the system just kicks in and takes over.
00:57:14.000I wonder if you saw Dave Chappelle on SNL.
00:57:17.000He once did a monologue, and in the monologue he talked about how...
00:57:21.000People have misjudged Donald Trump because when Donald Trump started to say things like, I know what these tax loopholes are because I used those tax loopholes as a businessman, it meant that Hillary Clinton had no chance of opposing someone who could talk like that.
00:57:37.000Because whether you prefer Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, what all of us are starting to understand is that in the way that you described, Political institutions have a lot of corruption, a lot of benefits, a lot of concealed relationships.
00:57:50.000The transparency that you're bringing in your journalistic YouTuber way, and the kind of transparency that Trump brought just because of his bullish personality and charisma, It's in a sense a massive threat to establishment institutions and what's even more fascinating to me about you is the way that you are operating is that you're not telling people I think that we should do this on education or I think we should do this when it comes to ecology.
00:58:18.000You are asking people what do you want and I will do it as your servant.
00:58:23.000There's something about that that seems to me spiritually very powerful.
00:58:26.000Is that something you've thought about or arrived at?
00:58:30.000Well, knowing about social media, you understood that that's the right thing to do, to engage the people.
00:58:35.000So it's like using my knowledge as... But also I think it's cool, like, how, when did you have a saying about what people do in European Parliament?
00:58:44.000So I think given this option, at least, and you might say it's immature, it's like, anyway, we are 720 people, one person to do this poll, to just see what people think, for the public to see, like for a... I think it's helpful.
00:59:00.000Even if, let's say, maybe this is the wrong thing to do.
00:59:05.000It's been so fascinating talking to you today because I've learned that your background, both in business, in particular social media business, but your military experience and then As well as it seems that you have a good intuition about how to communicate with people and a kind of flexible strength which is a an odd ability and one that I really sort of admire and look up to.
00:59:30.000I can see how that you could you could inspire a lot of people to do what you've done and you've said that that's already happening in Cyprus like that you believe that in the next national elections in Cyprus a lot of tiktokers and youtubers Well, I don't know.
00:59:49.000To be the president of Cyprus, you need to be 35 and above.
00:59:53.000So I'm still 24, so I don't think about all this stuff.
00:59:57.000I have a huge responsibility now because as I pave, let's say, the road to this and it's cool and like we make politics cool, it's
01:00:07.000easily, if I make a big mistake, we say, ah, we taught you this is a scumbag, we told you
01:00:12.000this is not the right way, and I will close all the roads for the next ones. So I have a big
01:00:18.000responsibility to be a good and do the maximum best impact I can. I don't know yet what it will be, but I'm
01:00:25.000sure I will find a way because I'm determined to understand and learn and help this universe.
01:00:32.000It's really inspiring to speak with you.
01:00:34.000I would love to stay in touch with you because I feel like you're a person that I could just learn a great deal on in how to communicate, how to leverage social media power for good.
01:00:44.000It just seems like you're in an incredibly innovative and unique position for now.
01:00:49.000But like, it seems like you're leading something that could be really important.