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Tenet Media
IndustryMedia
FoundedJanuary 2022
FoundersLauren Chen
Liam Donovan
DefunctSeptember 5, 2024 (2024-09-05)
Key people
Liam Donovan (president)

Tenet Media was an American right-wing media company founded by Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan in January 2022.[1] It featured six right-wing influencers, including Matt Christiansen, Tayler Hansen, Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern.[1][2][3] It described itself as a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on western political and cultural issues".[4][5]

Content

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According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), many of Tenet's videos "contain commentary on events and issues in the U.S., such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed opposition to stated goals of the World Economic Forum who wish to amplify domestic divisions in the United States."[6]

Tenet's podcasts featured prominent Republican figures, including Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, Project 2025 director Paul Dans, Vivek Ramaswamy, Kash Patel and Kari Lake.[7] Tenet's content included coverage of illegal immigration, supposed racism against white people, free speech and Elon Musk,[8] as well as climate change denial content.[9]

Indictment of Russian nationals

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See also: Russian interference in the 2024 United States elections

Two Russian nationals were federally indicted by the DOJ on September 4, 2024 for their alleged activities relating to Tenet. The company was identified only as "Company-1" in the indictment but descriptive information allowed several media sources to identify it as Tenet. According to an unsealed indictment,[10] the two indicted Russians were employees of the Russian state-controlled media company RT who were charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, and allegedly funneling around $10 million into Tenet in order to "distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging".[5][11] Some of the influencers, including Pool, Rubin, and Johnson, have responded by claiming to be victims of the Russian disinformation campaign.[12] Attorney general Merrick Garland said Tenet "never disclosed to the influencers or to their millions of followers its ties to RT and the Russian government."[13] Prosecutors also allege the $10 million was a Russian money laundering operation.[14]

Around February 2023, Tenet sought to hire two right-wing commentators with 2.4 million YouTube subscribers and 1.3 million YouTube subscribers to produce videos. The two eventually signed on, and "Commentator-1" and "Commentator-2" each received over $400,000 per month for producing political videos for Tenet.[1] According to the DOJ indictment, the two defendants requested that Tenet influencers produce content blaming the Crocus City Hall attack on Ukraine and the U.S.[15][better source needed]

The indictment alleges the Tenet founders masked their Russian funding by creating a fictitious persona of a wealthy European sponsor, "Eduard Grigoriann."[16] The charged Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, were involved in day to day operations of Tenet by fall 2023, using false names to conceal they were Russian RT employees. The indictment alleges the founders acknowledged in private communications that their "investors" were actually the "Russians."[1][14]

Following the indictment, YouTube terminated Tenet Media and other channels run by Chen. Prior to its removal, Tenet had around 316,000 subscribers.[17] Tenet influencer Tayler Hansen announced on September 5 that the company had shut down.[18]

The Biden administration said the indictment was part of a wider effort to counter a major Russian government effort to influence the 2024 presidential election that included sanctions on ten individuals and entities, and the seizure of 32 internet domains.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Becket, Stefan; Quinn, Melissa (September 5, 2024). "U.S. says Russia funded media company that paid right-wing influencers millions for videos". CBS News. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  2. ^ Couts, Andrew; Marchman, Tim (September 4, 2024). "Right-Wing Influencer Network Tenet Media Allegedly Spread Russian Disinformation". Wired. Archived from the original on September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  3. ^ Mealins, Evan (September 5, 2024). "What to know about Tenet Media, Tennessee company linked to Russian propagandists". The Tennessean. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  4. ^ "Tenet Media: Fearless Voices Live Here". Tenet media. Archived from the original on September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Cohen, Zachary; O'Sullivan, Donie; Perez, Evan; Lyngaas, Sean (September 4, 2024). "DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media stars". CNN. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  6. ^ Spangler, Todd (2024-09-05). "U.S. Officials Allege Russian Operatives Illegally Provided $10 Million to Fund Videos by American Right-Wing Social Media Stars". Variety. Archived from the original on 2024-09-05. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  7. ^ Mansfield, Erin (September 6, 2024). "Lara Trump, Kari Lake, other notable Republicans appeared on podcasts accused of Russia tie". USA Today.
  8. ^ Marchman, Tim (September 6, 2024). "What Right-Wing Influencers Actually Said in Those Tenet Media Videos". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  9. ^ Waldman, Scott (2024-09-06). "Tenet Media spread climate denial while allegedly funded by Russia". E&E News. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  10. ^ "Office of Public Affairs | Two RT Employees Indicted for Covertly Funding and Directing U.S. Company that Published Thousands of Videos in Furtherance of Russian Interests | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2024-09-04. Archived from the original on 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  11. ^ Spangler, Todd (5 September 2024). "U.S. Officials Allege Russian Operatives Illegally Provided $10 Million to Fund Videos by American Right-Wing Social Media Stars". Variety. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  12. ^ "US conservative influencers say they are 'victims' of Russian disinformation campaign". The Guardian. September 5, 2024. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  13. ^ McCausland, Phil (September 5, 2024). "Right-wing US influencers say they were victims of alleged Russian plot". BBC. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Nakamura, David; Belton, Catherine; Sommer, Will (September 4, 2024). "Justice Dept. charges two Russian media operatives in alleged scheme". The Washington Post.
  15. ^ Davis, Seana (September 6, 2024). "Inside the indictment alleging secret Russian funding of U.S. content company". Logically Facts. Archived from the original on September 7, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  16. ^ Bond, Shannon; Joffe-Block, Jude; Thompson, Caitlin (September 5, 2024). "How Russian operatives covertly hired U.S. influencers to create viral videos". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  17. ^ Ray, Siladitya (September 6, 2024). "YouTube Removes Alleged Russia-Funded Outlet Hosting Tim Pool, Benny Johnson Videos". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  18. ^ Merlan, Anna (September 5, 2024). "Tenet Media Shutters After Being Accused of Taking $10 Million in Covert Kremlin Funding". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on September 7, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
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