This is a major takedown: the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday 4 September that it had sanctioned ten individuals and seized 32 websites as part of an investigation into several Russian disinformation operations targeting the US presidential election. US investigators believe that most of this campaign was directly financed and controlled by senior managers of RT, the Russian state channel, which has been banned from broadcasting in Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine.
At the center of this disinformation operation aimed at dividing the population was a little-known company: Tenet Media, which is based in the state of Tennessee and presents itself as “the place where the voices of the brave are expressed”This production company publishes a large number of videos on social media, with moderate success: it has just over 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, but only 4,000 on TikTok.
On the other hand, the company has managed to attract some big names in the American far right, such as its star influencer Tim Pool, who hosts a regular podcast for Tenet Media called “The Culture War” (“the culture war”). Tim Pool began his career in the early 2010s participating in the progressive Occupy Wall Street movement, which led to him being hired by the online media outlet. Vicefor which he wrote reports before resigning. At the same time, he has changed politically, increasing his collaborations with far-right influencers over the past ten years. According to documents made public by the US Department of Justice, his contract provided for a salary of approximately 400,000 euros per month.
Far-right influencers
Tenet Media had also signed agreements with other content producers, such as Canadian far-right activist Lauren Southern, conservative YouTuber Matt Christiansen and Benny Johnson, a former contributor to the far-right outlet Breitbart. The influencers in question, however, deny having knowingly participated in a Russian influence campaign: the Justice Department documents also specify that the two owners of the company had not indicated where the funds used to pay their video producers came from. “If these allegations are true, I and other celebrities and commentators have been victims of deception.commented Tim Pool overnight Wednesday into Thursday. The “Culture War” podcast existed long before any streaming deal with Tenet and will continue afterward. »
You have 51.15% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
