Tenet Media Russian Operation Indictment

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Tim Pool @Timcast • 2h TIMCAST My statement regarding allegations and the leaked DOJ Indictment Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were... Readers added context It's not a 'leaked' indictment. It's part of an official press release by the DOJ. The full indictment can be accessed through the press release.... Show this note

Simply Mdawini @SimplyMdawini Imagine the pain of being one of the few true believers of Russian propaganda who did it to "own the libs". Imagine finding out that all your friends are millionaires now, from doing the exact same thing as you, but you were the only one stupid enough to do it for free. 6:08 AM · Sep 5, 2024 - 35.1K Views LO 5 1756 752 17 ↑

Joshua Reed Eakle @JoshEakle I think I'm starting to understand why Tim Pool is so obsessed with Civil War. Tim Pool ◆ @Timcast 26m Tim P... TIMCAST @Timc.... Jan 3, 2022 You are in a civil war At what point is it not "cold" civil war? Tim Pool @Timcast 1h Tim P... @Timc... - Jun 2, 2021 Civil war Tim Pool CAST@Timcast Aug 3 it all depends on what happens next, but should this escalate then history will regard everything happening now as "the 2nd civil war period" Tim Pool @Timcast Aug 1 You are in a civil war Tim Pool THEAST @Timcast • Jul 23 You are in a civil war Tim Pool @Timcast • Jun 14 5 years ago I was worried that rising tribalism and political street fights could be a precursor to civil war We are now at the "President has Arrested his political rival" phase The responses to this tweet are great How could there be anything other than a Civil War when tribalists are this stupid Tim P... THECAST @Timc.... Dec 8, 2020 The rule of law has been breaking down for quite some time This is political civil war Tim P... @Tim....Sep 25, 2020 This and the Obama gate stuff Tell me we aren't in a civil war No one views the upcoming election as legitimate twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer... Tim P... @Tim....Aug 30, 2020 Tim Pool @Timcast Mar 31 I'm feeling a bit bullish on Civil War You're in a cold civil war Tim P... @Timc... Aug 3, 2020 Tim Pool @Timcast Mar 20 Soooo... civil war? American Civil War 2: Pedophiles vs. Nazis

Tim Pool @Timcast TINCAST My statement regarding allegations and the DOJ Indictment Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are instructed The Culture War Podcast was licensed by Tenet Media, it existed well before any license agreement with Tenet and it will continue to exist after any such agreement expires. The only change with the agreement was that the location of the live broadcast moved to Tenet's Youtube Channel. I and TCW never produced any content for Tenet Media. 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. Examples include discussing spirituality, dating, and videos games. The show is produced in its entirety by our local team without input from anyone external to the company TCW is separate company not associated with Timcast.com or other properties. It exists solely for the production of the Culture War Podcast That being said, we still do not know what is true as these are only allegations. Putin is a scumbag, Russia sucks donkey balls And to the journalists who wish to jump the gun, create their own narrative, or lie about what is currently going on, you can eat my irish ass

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson A statement on the leaked DOJ indictment today: A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated. We are disturbed by the allegations in today's indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme. My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise. 5:25 PM Sep 4, 2024 ...

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Overview

Tenet Media Russian Operation Indictment refers to an indictment against two Russian nationals who work for the Russian state-controlled international news company Russia Today (RT), alleging they operated a shell company called Tenet Media intended to funnel money to American conservative commentators and influencers with the intention of stoking division among Americans and promoting Russian interests concerning the country's war in Ukraine and other topics. The talent of Tenet Media includes prominent conservative influencers Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin. Following the story breaking in early September 2024, Johnson, Pool and Rubin all stated they had no knowledge of the alleged scheme and were victims of the crime. News coverage surrounding Tenet Media, its pro-Russian propaganda and the people involved sparked widespread backlash, memes and other reactions online.

Background

On September 4th, 2024, U.S. prosecutors charged Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.^[1] The indictment^[2] alleges that the pair, who work for Russian media outlet RT, had run a covert operation and set up a shell company in America to funnel money to conservative media influencers, amplify their voices and promote talking points in line with Russian interests.

The indictment reads:

Using multiple fake personas, AFANASYEVA edited, posted, and directed the posting by U.S. Company-I of hundreds of videos. Many of the videos published by U.S. Company-I contain commentary on events and issues in the United States, such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia's interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Government of Russia interests, such as its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Though Tenet Media is not explicitly named in the indictment, the indictment says the site describes itself as a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues" and features six commentators as its "talent." Tenet Media uses the same phrase in its description on its website,^[3] and its talent includes Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Matt Christiansen, Lauren Southern and Taylor Hansen.

The company was founded by Liam Donovan and his wife, Lauren Chen, who are alleged to have said in private that they knew their company was funded by "The Russians."^[8]

Tenet Media was supposedly sponsored by an investor named "Eduard Grigoriann," but that person doesn't exist. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva created a fake profile to act as him. Afansyeva acted as an "outside editor" for Tenet content but used her position to edit and monitor the content it produced without disclosing that she worked for RT. Donovan, Chen, Afanasyeva and Kalashnikov did not disclose that the company was operated by RT to the Tenet Media talent or the U.S. government.

Developments

After the indictment was unsealed on September 4th, 2024, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin and Tim Pool all denied knowledge that Tenet Media was a Russian shell company (Johnson and Pool statements shown below).^[4]^[5]^[6] Pool, in particular, stated that he always had full control over his content and was never pressured to say certain things or push certain talking points by Tenet Media.

However, news of the indictment led others online to review some of the content posted by Tenet Media talent. Pool's content drew a significant amount of interest.

For example, on September 4th, X / Twitter user @YourAnonNews posted a video in which Tim Pool described Ukraine as "the enemy of our nation" and spliced it with the Russian national anthem, gaining over 14,000 retweets and 63,000 likes in one day.

Tim Pool (@timcast): outed as a Russian propagandist. Tim was being paid $100,000 a week by Tenet Media. TM took millions in Kremlin cash as part of “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging"). Don't lie Tim, you knew. pic.twitter.com/I3HjxAIbdt

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) September 5, 2024

Also on on September 4th, 2024, Twitter user @JoshEakle^[7] pulled up roughly two dozen tweets in which Tim Pool stated that America was headed for a "civil war," implying that Pool's "obsession" with a potential American Civil War may be a result of the payments he was allegedly receiving from Russian operatives. The post gained over 5,500 retweets and 29,000 likes in one day.

Online Reactions

As the news surrounding the story spread in early September 2024, numerous users across multiple social media platforms began posting reactions to it. The term "Russian" notably trended on X / Twitter^[9] on September 5th, 2024, as various people discussed the controversy.

For example, on September 5th, Twitter user @cwebbonline posted a news clip covering the story in a tweet claiming, "This Russian PSYOP is so much bigger than Tim Pool," which received nearly 440,000 views, 13,000 likes and 770 replies in six hours.

YOU NEED TO SEE THIS.It’s not just bots--Russia is paying influencers big bucks to boost Trump’s candidacy and we are the mark. You might have even read fake articles that were made to look legit.This Russian PSYOP is so much bigger than Tim Pool.🧵 pic.twitter.com/I3wvqPyUCb

— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) September 5, 2024

Numerous posts on Reddit also appeared between September 4th and 5th, 2024, discussing the allegations, including threads on /r/worldnews,^[10] /r/JoeRogan^[11] and /r/facepalm,^[12] each of which garnered thousands of upvotes and comments in roughly 24 hours.

Other influencers, content creators and political commentators covered the controversy on YouTube, such as The Young Turks YouTube channel, which uploaded a video titled "Right-Wing Influencers Allegedly Caught Up In Russia Propaganda Scheme" on September 4th that received over 67,000 views, 3,200 likes and 1,500 comments in 18 hours.