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upstart [soylentnews.org] writes:

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Justice departmen: right-wing influencers paid by Russians [boingboing.net]:

Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and others—all paid with Russian money for their reactionary, right-wing and anti-Ukraine verbiage [forbes.com]. The money came via Tenet Media [tenetmedia.com], a company being sued by the U.S. Justice Department [justice.gov], whose suit states the influencers were misled.

The DOJ's indictment does not name the "Tennessee-based online content creation company" that received the Russian funding, but the description matches Tenet Media, which describes itself as a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues." Tenet's website lists six prominent right-wing social media personalities—Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, Taylor Hansen and Matt Christiansen—as part of its talent roster. The DOJ's indictment alleges two Russian state media employees covertly poured $10 million into the company to publish English-language videos on various social media platforms spouting views that are "often consistent with the Government of Russia's interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions."

Even if you're more optimized for idiot than useful, how can you have that kind of money sloshing around without the people around you gossiping about its origins—or your tax preparers and lawyers warning you about taking money from people who don't exist?

When the influencers asked about the company's funding source, the founders allegedly lied and told them they were sponsored by a private investor named "Eduard Grigoriann"—a fictional persona, according to the indictment.

Hans, I've just noticed something. Have you seen our checks lately? They've got double headed eagles on themand all the Rs are the wrong way around.

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