Interestingly they have gone after conservative influencers this time, claiming some kind of Russian disinfo operation. Much as I love to see scum like Rave Dubin, Dim Pool and the maniac Johnson get slammed this smacks of some kind of deep state fuckery. They do seem to have some kind of evidence this time mind you...
US conservative influencers say they are ‘victims’ of Russian disinformation campaign
Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson addressed allegations that a company they were associated with had been paid to publish videos with messages in favour of Russia
A number of high-profile, conservative influencers in the US have said they are “victims” of an alleged Russian disinformation campaign, after the Biden administration accused Moscow of carrying out a sustained campaign to influence the outcome of November’s presidential elections.
Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson published statements on Wednesday evening addressing allegations that a US content creation company they were associated with had been provided with nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to publish videos with messages in favour of Moscow’s interests and agenda, including over the war in Ukraine.
The justice department indictment does not name the company, but describes it as a Tennessee-based content creation firm with six commentators and with a website identifying itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on western political and cultural issues”.
That description exactly matches Tenet Media, an online company that hosts videos made by well-known conservative influencers Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and others.
The Guardian has contacted Tenet for comment. The company has not released a statement or commented on the allegations, or responded to other media organisations’ requests for comment, including the New York Times and CBS, according to their reporting.
Tenet Media’s shows in recent months have featured high-profile conservative guests, including Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican US senate candidate Kari Lake.
“The company never disclosed to the influencers – or to their millions of followers – its ties to [Russian state media company] RT and the Russian government,” US attorney general Merrick Garland said. His department described Wednesday’s indictment as the most sweeping effort yet to push back against what it says are Russian attempts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election.
The Tennessee-based company published English-language videos on multiple social media channels, including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to the indictment.
Pool, a popular podcaster with more than 2 million followers on X, said “should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims.”
“Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical.”
Johnson, who has 2.7 million followers on X, said he was “disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme”.
Rubin said on X that he “knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity” and that the allegations showed “that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme.”
The justice department accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of covertly funding the Tennessee-based content company to publish videos in favour of Russia. The justice department says the company did not disclose that it was funded by RT and that neither it nor its founders registered as required by law as an agent of a foreign principal.
RT ceased operating in the US after major television distributors dropped it following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. RT responded with ridicule to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency: “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections.”
Garland said: “The justice department’s message is clear: We will have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic systems of government.”
The nearly 2,000 videos posted by the company have received more than 16m views on YouTube alone, prosecutors said. The company paid $8.7m to the production companies of three of the online stars it recruited, according to the indictment.
The commentators, who were not named in the indictment, did not know they were paid by RT, the Justice Department said.
In one instance, the indictment said, one of the RT employees asked the company to produce a video that would blame Ukraine and the United States for a mass shooting at a Moscow music venue, the justice department said, even though Islamic State had claimed responsibility. A company founder responded that one of the commentators is “happy to cover it”, according to the indictment.
As part of the indictment, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in its most sweeping effort yet to push back against what it says are Russian attempts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election.
The treasury department also sanctioned the RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, and nine other employees of the network over the campaign of disinformation around the elections. Simonyan is a “central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts” the department said....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Having read it it's actually more of the same Russiagate we know and ridicule
just naming some big name alt/conservative influencers to give it more bite. It soon descends into RT this, RT that, RT published a film "one of the RT employees asked the company to produce a video that would blame Ukraine and the United States for a mass shooting at a Moscow music venue, the justice department said, even though Islamic State had claimed responsibility" (demonstrating the utility of cutouts in a big way there!)
So it seems this Tenet company probably was set up by RT to get around the various bullshit obstacles already thrown up by the US and now the spooks have decided to have a gotcha moment and drag some youtube names into it as that plays better than vague allegations against "social media".
When you actually comb through the article there's virtually no actual specific instances other than the one reference to the Moscow attack video.
The US is such a total basket case and the sad thing is we used to be able to say that and think, not like over here but here we are, two turds in the same bowl....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Re: Having read it it's actually more of the same Russiagate we know and ridicule
He thinks that since the new version deals with facts, such as they are i.e. an alternative version of reality has been presented by RT, this is 'disinformation' i.e. it doesn't comply with septic version of reality and since Attorney General is a legal eagle that is all he can say.
Ritter stated he will stop writing for RT and Sputnik. Seems like a wise decision methinks.
Re: Having read it it's actually more of the same Russiagate we know and ridicule
To be honest, they do actually have some evidence this time although it's still has a very limited exposure, which is a bit odd given the high profile of the "influencers" involved.
Some More News is a bit "blue no matter who" for me but they are bearable. They have a bit on this story here. It is absolutely clear that the organisation paying the influencers is acting on behalf of Russia and they are giving them talking points on the Ukraine war which they repeated in exchange for the money.
The breadtube universe are all dancing around loving it because they hate Dim Tool and the rest (with good reason as they are shitbags) and the msm are now using this as validation for the entire unhinged Russiagating they spent years on before that had no foundation which is ridiculous.
Unmentioned is that this is exactly what lots of other organisation (cough apartheid state lobby) also does but that's all ok because it's not this particular state doing it.
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...no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
My initial take was off the mark and they actually do have a case in this one instance
I initially thought it was just RT trying to get round the various sanctions that the US have put on them, but this is definitely a straight influencer talking points for money on behalf of Russia case.
The msm will take it and run with it until it gets twisted out of all reality of course....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
on September 5, 2024, 6:23 am