YouTube terminated five right-wing political channels believed to be connected to the Department of Justice’s Russia-linked US media indictments this week. One of the channels, Tenet Media, was pulled from the platform, with CNN reporting it as the unnamed company implicated in the indictment. The DOJ accused Russian operatives of paying the media organization to spread disinformation aimed at influencing the 2024 US elections. A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the takedown and stated that they are terminating the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by owner Lauren Chen as part of efforts to combat coordinated influence operations. The investigation is ongoing, with over 4,000 YouTube channels terminated in Q2 2024 in relation to Russia-linked influence operations. YouTube collaborates with Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) to identify and deplatform bad actors. The DOJ indicted two employees of RT for illegally funding Tenet Media, owned by Chen and Liam Donovan, who allegedly knew their funding came from the Russian government. The Washington Post reports that Tenet Media used YouTube to spread propaganda videos to US conservatives, featuring right-wing pundits like Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, and Dave Rubin, as well as appearances from Vivek Ramaswamy and Lara Trump. Pool and Rubin have denied knowledge of Tenet’s Russian government funding.
