Right-wing YouTuber Lauren Chen has been implicated in a Russian-backed influence operation aimed at swaying the 2024 US presidential election. Chen, along with her husband Liam Donovan, are identified as the founders of Tenet Media, a company at the center of a multimillion-dollar scheme to spread misinformation and sow political discord.
The US Justice Department unveiled the alleged plot as part of a broader crackdown on Russian influence operations. While Chen and Donovan were not named or charged in the indictment, business records filed in Tennessee connect them to Tenet Media, which allegedly paid substantial sums to right-wing influencers for producing content that echoed Russian propaganda.
Read: DOJ Targets Russian Government-Sponsored Influence Campaign in the US
Chen, known for her YouTube channel with over 500,000 subscribers, has also contributed to conservative outlets such as BlazeTV and RT, the Russian state-controlled media organization. Following the revelations, Blaze Media announced the termination of Chen’s contract. YouTube has also removed her channels along with Tenet Media’s.
The indictment describes how Tenet Media approached social media personalities with lucrative offers. In one instance, a creator was offered $2 million annually, later negotiated to $400,000 monthly for four weekly videos. The funding was reportedly attributed to a fictional persona named Eduard Grigoriann.
Private messages cited in the legal filing suggest Chen and Donovan were aware of the Russian connection. One message read, “So we’re billing the Russians from the corporation, right?” followed two weeks later by, “Also, the Russians paid. So we’re good to bill them for the next month I guess.”
Other prominent conservative figures listed on Tenet Media’s website, including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, and Dave Rubin, have denied knowledge of the alleged Russian scheme. They claim to be victims of deception and maintain they had full editorial control over their content.
The operation’s goal, according to prosecutors, was to promote pro-Russian narratives and support candidates deemed friendly to Kremlin interests, particularly former President Donald Trump and other Republican figures.
This case is part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to combat foreign interference in US elections. The Justice Department’s actions included sanctioning individuals and entities, and seizing dozens of internet domains linked to Russian influence campaigns.
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