Right-wing influencers claim they’re ‘victims’ in Russian propaganda scheme

After news broke that at least six right-wing influencers were utilized in a Russian scheme to spread propaganda, the influencers are denying any responsibility for the incident and have claimed to be “victims” in it.

Three of the influencers involved in the scheme have been identified as Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin. All three have over 1 million followers each on X, where they spread extreme right-wing rhetoric. Pool was among the many conservatives openly advocating for violence and “war” after Donald Trump’s guilty verdict came in. He has touted election fraud conspiracies and used his YouTube channel to give visibility to white supremacists, such as Enrique Tarrio and Jack Posobiec. Johnson is a conservative troll who was fired from two reputable media outlets for plagiarism and spreading conspiracy theories and fake news. He has only been able to maintain employment at right-wing The Daily Caller and is known for going on racist rants defending Kanye West and advocating to ban the Black National Anthem.

Rubin has also used his influence to give a platform to right-wing extremists, such as Great Replacement theorist Lauren Southern, and was once suspended from Twitter for sharing transphobic attacks on Elliot Page. All three men were prominent Trump supporters who had no qualms about sharing inciting, hateful, and divisive rhetoric. Then, they were approached by a covert Russian-funded media company.

The DOJ exposes Russian disinformation conspiracy

The Department of Justice recently released a report asserting that a covert Russian media company had hired right-wing influencers to spread Russian propaganda. Two Russians, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They are accused of founding Tenet Media, supposedly an American media company based in Tenessee. Business records showed Americans Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan founded the company. The funding from the Russians was kept secret.

Meanwhile, the company tapped six right-wing influencers with lucrative deals, offering them hundreds of thousands of dollars to post videos for them. According to the DOJ, the Russians were seeking to drive division in the U.S. and support Russian interests by spreading pro-Trump propaganda and false information on the war in Ukraine.

Following the report, Pool and Johnson both released statements on X, trying to clear their names in the matter. Pool stated that he and his fellow influencers “were deceived and are victims.” He also claims that while his Culture War Podcast signed a licensing deal with Tenet Media, he didn’t produce content explicitly for the company nor allow them to have “editorial control of the show.” Johnson also stated that the DOJ’s report made it “clear that myself and other influencers were victims,” while Rubin echoed his statement.

To be fair, the DOJ noted that some influencers may have been given misinformation about the source of Tenet Media’s funding. None of them are facing charges in the conspiracy. At the same time, their statements all conveniently left out the enormous profits they made from Tenet Media. Russia fueled nearly $10 million in the company, allowing Tenet to approach these influencers with outlandish offers of $100,000 per video. One unnamed influencer was offered $400,000 monthly plus a $100,000 sign-on bonus for posting four videos monthly. The influencer had expressed skepticism at first, but only about the money. They demanded their salary be close to $5 million annually before they agreed.

One can’t help but question how oblivious these influencers really were. They didn’t find anything strange about a shadowy media company offering them almost half a million dollars monthly to post videos in Russian interests? After all, Russia has done things like this before, with 12 Russian military intelligence officers being indicted for interfering in the 2016 Presidential election.

Pool’s claims that he was not directed on videos to make for Tenet is also strange. There are videos of him shouting, “Ukraine is the enemy of this country!” Does he mean to say he made those videos coincidentally while under a licensing deal with Tenet?

It’s true that these influencers were likely misled. But one can’t help but wonder if the money helped them ignore blatant red flags. While these men have happily pulled the victim card, none seem to have thought about why Russia targeted them. There must have been a reason. The whole incident is proof that, at the very least, all six influencers are guilty of extreme greed and willingness to parrot the viewpoints of others without thinking independently. Their sole concern in signing deals with Tenet was whether they’d make $2 or $5 million per year.

The incident now calls into question the credibility of all right-wing influencers with suspiciously immense wealth. Do any of them even believe the hateful and damaging rhetoric they spread, or is it all just about saying whatever nonsense is necessary to rake in millions?