YouTube has deleted the channel of Tenet Media, a right-wing content production company that recent media reports have linked to a Russian influence operation.
A spokesperson for the Google LLC unit told The Washington Post today that the move is part of “ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations.” YouTube has also taken down four other channels associated with Tenet Media co-founder Lauren Chen.
The development comes two days after the U.S. Justice Department indicted two employees of Russian state-backed media organization RT over a scheme to spread disinformation in the U.S. Prosecutors charge that the two defendants paid a “Tennessee-based online content creation company” to post Russian propaganda. The indictment doesn’t name the company but includes a quote from its YouTube channel that multiple news outlets used to identify it as Tenet Media.
The Justice Department determined that the disinformation campaign has been running for at least one year. According to the indictment, the two RT employees named as defendants pumped $9.7 million into efforts to target U.S. audiences with Russian government propaganda. Prosecutors allege that the founders of the unnamed content creation company identified as Tenet by news outlets knew their funding was coming from Moscow.
According to the indictment, the company in question has produced nearly 2,000 videos with more than 16 million cumulative views on YouTube. The clips contain commentary on a range of topics related to U.S. 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,” the Justice Department stated.
It’s believed that the two RT employees indicated this week not only financed the influence operation but also played an active role in its day-to-day operations. One of the defendants monitored its funding and hiring. The other “posted and directed the posting of hundreds of videos,” the Justice Department has found.
The Washington Post reported that YouTube was the main platform through which Tenet Media distributed its videos. The company also posted its content to TikTok, Instagram and X.
The indictment is part of several actions that U.S. officials announced on Wednesday to counter Russian propaganda. The Justice Department also seized 32 domains used as part of Doppelganger, a Russian disinformation campaign that researchers had first uncovered last year. The domains spread disinformation disguised as content from legitimate news organizations.