The U.S. Department of Justice has “charged two employees of RT, the Russian state media broadcaster, in a scheme to secretly fund and direct the production of social media videos,” reports NPR:
The RT staffers, named in the indictment as Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They’re accused of funneling nearly $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee company that contracted with online influencers with big audiences.
Details in the indictment match Nashville-based Tenet Media, including its website description: “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.”
Tenet was founded in 2022 by Lauren Chen, a conservative Canadian YouTuber, and her husband, Liam Donovan, whose X profile describes him as president of Tenet Media. Chen hosts a show on Glenn Beck’s BlazeTV and is a contributor to right-wing activist group Turning Point USA. She wrote opinion pieces for RT in 2021 and 2022.
Tenet publicly launched in November 2023 with six contributors well-known in right-wing media, including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, David Rubin, and Lauren Southern. The videos they create for Tenet regularly cover conservative staples including “migrant gangs,” transgender people, online censorship, and attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden.
Johnson, a famous plagiarist, is already being paid by right winger Elon Musk to post on Twitter/X, noted The Washington Post.
Pool, who is reportedly a junior high school dropout, is also paid by Musk to post on Twitter/X, noted Vox.
(Sources: NPR, Poytner, The Washington Post, Vox)