Lauren Chen has been fired from Blaze Media following allegations from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that she misled conservative influencers regarding Russian funding for her company, Tenet Media.
The DOJ claims that Tenet Media, which Chen co-founded with her husband Liam Donovan, received money from RT, a Kremlin-controlled outlet, and used those funds to pay influencers for content promoting Russian propaganda.
Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon confirmed Chen’s termination, stating, “Lauren Chen was an independent contractor, whose contract has been terminated.”
Two Russian nationals connected to RT were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
According to the DOJ, Tenet Media produced thousands of videos pushing Russian narratives without disclosing its connection to RT. Several right-wing influencers, including Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, were reportedly involved but claim they were deceived and had no knowledge of the funding’s origins.
Tenet Media’s website promotes itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” and claims that “fearless voices live here.” The platform features videos from creators such as Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.
The indictment further alleges that two RT employees, under fake identities, coordinated the content and instructed Tenet Media to push pro-Russian messaging, including false claims related to the Ukraine conflict.
Kostiantyn Kalashnikov (“Kostya”) and Elena Afanasyeva (“Lena”) are accused by DOJ of violating FARA and committing money laundering. They allegedly promoted pro-Russia propaganda with the aim of creating discord and division ahead of the November U.S. elections:
Many of the videos posted by U.S. Company-1 contain commentary on events and issues in the U.S., such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed to the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT — to amplify domestic divisions in the United States.
In order to carry out RT’s secret influence campaign in the United States, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva operated under covert identities at U.S. Company-1. Posing as an outside editor, Kalashnikov edited U.S. Company-1 content, monitored U.S. Company-1’s funding and hiring, and introduced Afanasyeva as a member of his purported editing team. Using the fake personas Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, Afanasyeva posted and directed the posting by U.S. Company-1 of hundreds of videos. Afanasyeva also collected information from and gave instructions to U.S. Company-1 staff. For example, after the March 22, 2024, terrorist attack on a music venue in Moscow, Afanasyeva asked one of U.S. Company-1’s founders to blame Ukraine and the United States for the attack, writing: “I think we can focus on the Ukraine/U.S. angle. . . . [T]he mainstream media spread fake news that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack yet ISIS itself never made such statements. All terrorists are now detained while they were heading to the border with Ukraine which makes it even more suspicious why they would want to go to Ukraine to hide.”
…U.S. Company-1 never disclosed to its viewers that it was funded and directed by RT. Nor did U.S. Company-1 or its two founders register with the Attorney General as an agent of a foreign principal.
In response, Johnson tweeted that his company had been approached by Tenet as an independent contractor and expressed concern over the allegations, stating that he and other influencers were “victims” in the scheme. Pool also issued a statement but later deleted it.
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Seems that the actual alleged “propanganda” is missing from this article. It would be good to see what this blatantly biased DOJ that has actually conducted Election Interference lists as harmful.