Numerous anti-LGBTQ+ right-wing broadcasters — including Tim Pool and Dave Rubin — have been unwittingly working for a Russian government-funded media company established to push Russian propaganda and disinformation to American audiences, according to an indictment from the Department of Justice (DOJ). There’s no indication whether the broadcasters knew about the company’s Russian origins, but unsealed court documents showed that Russia favors former President Donald Trump to win the 2024 election, The Hill reported.
The FBI is now actively investigating the case which somewhat mirrors the Russian “troll farms” that flooded social media with anti-Democratic messaging during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Concurrently, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday Russian efforts to influence the 2024 U.S. election, and the DOJ announced its seizure of 32 web domains that Russia has used to spread its messages in the United States.
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The DOJ indictment alleges that two employees of RT (formerly Russia Today), a state-controlled media outlet funded and directed by the Russian government, spent nearly $10 million over the last year to covertly finance and direct Tenet Media, a Tennessee-based online content creation company. The company, which platforms the aforementioned broadcasters, has published over 2,000 videos posted in the last 10 months on TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube. Their videos have been collectively viewed over 20 million times, according to the DOJ.
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While the indictment doesn’t specifically mention Tenet Media by name, referring to it only as “U.S. Company 1,” the indictment mentioned that the company describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.” That description matches the same one that Tenet Media uses on YouTube, according to New York Times reporter Aric Toler.
A new DoJ indictment alleges that RT employees “covertly fund[ed] and direct[ed]” a US company with $10m in order to push pro-Russia content. The company is based in Tennessee.
There is one media company based in Tennessee with the same phrase listed in the indictment… pic.twitter.com/omGqEmwTLW
The RT employees — Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva — worked under the pseudonyms Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, and oversaw the company’s funding and hiring as well as the editing of its content.
Tenet Media’s YouTube channel features numerous anti-LGBTQ+ videos including ones titled, “Fellas, Is It Gay To Date A Trans Woman?”, “The TRUTH About Gender Ideology”, videos claiming that Pride parades regularly expose children to nudity and another falsely accusing the drag queen segment of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies for “mocking Christianity.” (The segment’s artistic director said it depicted a Dionysian feast.)
In a similar vein, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. of pushing gender “perversions” on Russian schoolchildren. Putin has used this reasoning to justify attacks on LGBTQ+ citizens and his ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Tenet Media has published numerous videos attacking Ukraine for spreading violence and unrest in Russia.
“While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed to the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT — to amplify domestic divisions in the United States,” the DOJ said.
Tenet Media’s webpage listing its “talent” includes Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Tayler Hansen, and Turning Point USA chief creative officer Benny Johnson — all of them have shared anti-LGBTQ+ views on social media. Tenet Media has also featured talks between disgraced former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and conservative gay commentator Glenn Greenwald.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that Russian government agents operated websites, social media and created fake social media personas to spread propaganda furthering Russian interests. The DOJ said it had already seized 32 web domains connected to the Russian plot and suggested it would seize more as part of its ongoing investigation, The Verge reported.
Numerous media studies have shown that Russian government-funded “troll farms” disseminated Russian state propaganda designed to fuel political divisions between Americans during the 2016 and 2020 elections. The exposure of Tenet Media is just the latest iteration of the same ploy — and it apparently is using anti-LGBTQ+ media figures as part of its anti-American campaign.
