YouTube Shuts Down Tenet Media Channel Following US Indictment, Right-Wing Influencers Say Victims Of Russian Plot

Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL YouTube has taken down the Tenet Media channel, following a U.S. Department of Justice indictment.

What Happened: On Wednesday, the Justice Department filed money-laundering charges against two employees of the Russian state media network RT, reported Reuters.

Following this, on Thursday, YouTube announced that it was shutting down the Tenet Media channel along with four other channels run by Tenet owner Lauren Chen.

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The charges are associated with a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content with the intent of influencing the 2024 presidential election.

Justice Department officials revealed that the two employees used shell companies and fake personas to pay $10 million to an undisclosed Tennessee company for the production of online videos.

These videos were designed to intensify political divisions within the U.S. Although Tenet is not directly named in the indictment, details provided in court filings correspond with Tenet Media.

This Nashville-based company has uploaded nearly 2,000 videos to YouTube in less than a year, the report noted.

Tenet did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.

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Why It Matters: Tenet Media, though not directly mentioned in the indictment, was established in 2022 by conservative Canadian YouTuber Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan.

The network features several prominent right-wing U.S. influencers, including Tim Pool, David Rubin, and Benny Johnson, who say they would be “victims” if the alleged plot is proven true, reported BBC.

My statement regarding allegations and the DOJ Indictment

Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are instructed…

— Tim Pool 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@Timcast) September 4, 2024

Statement on the DOJ indictment:

These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme.

I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period.

‘People of the Internet' was a silly show covering viral videos which ended… pic.twitter.com/KQHYDUi3ot

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) September 4, 2024

Image: Shutterstock/ Sergei Elagin

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.