How some of the biggest right-wing social media stars became unwitting mouthpieces of Russian propaganda

They’re not on any of the major television networks, but they have millions of viewers. Now, the Justice Department is alleging that some of the biggest stars in right-wing social media were, unwittingly, part of a sinister Russian operation to influence the 2024 US election.

They’re not on any of the major television networks, but they have millions of viewers. Now, the Justice Department is alleging that some of the biggest stars in right-wing social media were, unwittingly, part of a sinister Russian operation to influence the 2024 US election. The personalities weren’t directly named or accused of wrongdoing by the Justice Department, but court documents unsealed Wednesday revealed Russian state media producers funneled nearly $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee-based online media company. The company, identified by CNN as Tenet Media, boasts a slate of high-profile right-wing commentators as “talent,” including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen and Dave Rubin, collectively boasting millions of followers across social media platforms. Two Russian state media employees were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and money laundering. The secret payments pull back the curtain on some of the most popular right-wing personalities, who were paid millions of dollars by the Kremlin, without their knowledge according to the Justice Department to promote conservative narratives that furthered Russian interests. And while the influencer, podcaster, and online content creator space is booming, the indictment shows how open the new media ecosystem is to infiltration, where independent creators operate with few guardrails and little transparency. Tenet Media launched last year, describing itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues” with six commentators, all of whom had established online presences in the conservative media ecosystem. Some of Tenet’s commentators had careers at more mainstream media outlets prior to striking out on their own: Tim Pool was a reporter at Vice Media and Benny Johnson was a writer at BuzzFeed and the Independent Journal Review (Johnson was let go from both outlets) before becoming MAGA influencers.