Wed 4th September:
Justice Department Disrupts Covert Russian Government-Sponsored Foreign Malign Influence Operation Targeting Audiences in the United States and Elsewhere - Influence Operation Relied on Influencers, AI-Generated Content, Paid Social Media Advertisements, and Social Media Accounts to Drive Internet Traffic to Cybersquatted and Other Domains
(PDF file)
Doppelganger affidavit
This announcement follows the designation of actors involved in Doppelganger announced by the Treasury Department in March
/nosanitize
In conjunction with the domain seizures, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the designation of 10 individuals and two entities as part of a coordinated response to Russia’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Doppelganger’s foreign malign influence efforts were not directed solely against audiences in the United States. Other targets of the perpetrators’ propaganda included Germany, Mexico, and Israel, among others.
ICYMI
Doppelganger – Media clones serving Russian propaganda
Additional: Friday 6th September: staying with Russia theme - How Russia Today infiltrated Right-wing media
Multiple countries stopped carrying the RT news channel after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, so Russia needed to find another way to disseminate state-sponsored propaganda.
Tenet Media (known as "U.S. Company-1" in the indictment) is a right-leaning content creation company focusing on YouTube and social media. This company allegedly accepted $9.7 million dollars in funding from RT to parrot Russian talking points as directed by Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanassvia
The full indictment is here:
(PDF)
https://share.counter.social/s/4184c7
Oopsie Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and others you got played woulda Adam an Eve it 😝
Tim "its squeaky bum time" for you "they" are coming after you now - after all the screaming that "they" will come after "you" next - carful what you wish for Mr "bean"ie hat
both Pool and Johnson claimed they were unwitting victims.
Tenet Media, which often had videos and content shared on X by the site’s owner Elon Musk, has not tweeted since the indictments were issued on Wednesday.
🏳️🌈
@ecksmc There is practically a near zero chance that they didn't know where the money and the "tenor" of the info they were spewing was coming from.
Very well-paid victims. According to the indictment, “Commentator-1”—whose 2.4 million YouTube subscriber numbers matched Johnson’s—was paid $400,000 a month for four weekly videos, plus a $100,000 signing bonus. “Someone please victimize me with $400k a month,” cracked lawyer Damin Toell on X.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-rt-employees-indicted-covertly-funding-and-directing-us-company-published-thousands
YouTube removes Tenet Media channel over alleged ties to Russian disinformation effort
https://therecord.media/youtube-removes-tenet-media-russian-ties