Elon Musk has repeatedly promoted posts from right-leaning media outlets on his X account, which likely published Russian propaganda for money.
On September 4, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a high-profile accusation. The Justice Department claims that the Russian state company RT secretly provided about $10 million to a media network in Tennessee, which was producing propaganda videos and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to several right-wing influencers, as indicated by its digital footprint.
The indictment does not name the company that received the funds, but numerous American publications report that the details point to Tenet Media. Musk, who has deeply engaged with conspiratorial right-wing views, has frequently referenced and spread content from Tenet Media, as well as posts created and published by influencers who collaborated with Tenet for payment.
The founders of Tenet were also not named in the indictment — they are the spouses of conservative influencers Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan. Chen, who has a significant following on social media, hosted a show on Glenn Beck's Blaze TV until she was fired following allegations. She is also a co-founder of Turning Point USA, a political organization of “Christian nationalists” focused on promoting conservative ideas among teenagers and college students.
According to the Justice Department's statement, the couple was aware that they were receiving payments from Russian nationals: they worked directly with two employees of RT but intentionally failed to disclose this connection to the U.S. government as required by U.S. law.
The founders of Tenet are also accused of actively working to conceal their relationships with Russia and RT from the right-wing influencers they hired, who collectively have millions of followers on X, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms. Moreover, according to the indictment, the RT employees from whom Chen and Donovan received checks were involved in editing most of Tenet's content.
Created under the slogan “fearless voices live here,” the content generated and disseminated by Tenet and a group of influencers ranges from general discussions about awakening and the culture war to overtly anti-Ukrainian messages focused on U.S. and Western funding of the war in Ukraine. Elon Musk has consistently reshared and responded to posts from Tenet itself, as well as those from its influencers, including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Lauren Southern.
The billionaire indirectly commented on the Department of Justice's allegations by responding “yes” to a post by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who claimed that the influencers paid by Tenet were not guilty due to their ignorance of Russia’s involvement — Musk replied, “Yes.” Some creators from Tenet, including Pool and Johnson, argue that they were genuine victims and express their own ignorance regarding connections to Russia.
According to the indictment, at least two of the influencers were aware that Tenet's investments came from a fictitious European banker named Eduard Grigoryan. When one of the experts requested information about Grigoryan, they were directed to the LinkedIn page of a company called Viewpoint Productions. As noted by Wired, the page was clearly fake: it contained little information and many spelling errors.
Those involved in spreading Russian propaganda were compensated quite handsomely. According to the indictment, one influencer received $400,000 per month (not including "bonuses") for creating just four videos a week. The Justice Department suggests it may be true that these influential figures were unaware of funds coming from a hostile state. However, they also did not seem particularly interested in the source of the money.
Source: Futurism
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