YouTube deletes Tenet Media’s channel following US indictment over Russian disinformation

YouTube has deleted the channel of Tenet Media, a right-wing content material manufacturing firm that latest media stories have linked to a Russian affect operation. 

A spokesperson for the Google LLC unit told The Washington Publish at this time that the transfer is a part of “ongoing efforts to fight coordinated affect operations.” YouTube has additionally taken down 4 different channels related to Tenet Media co-founder Lauren Chen.

The event comes two days after the U.S. Justice Division indicted two workers of Russian state-backed media group RT over a scheme to unfold disinformation within the U.S. Prosecutors cost that the 2 defendants paid a “Tennessee-based on-line content material creation firm” to submit Russian propaganda. The indictment doesn’t identify the corporate however features a quote from its YouTube channel that a number of information shops used to establish it as Tenet Media.

The Justice Division decided that the disinformation marketing campaign has been working for a minimum of one 12 months. Based on the indictment, the 2 RT workers named as defendants pumped $9.7 million into efforts to focus on U.S. audiences with Russian authorities propaganda. Prosecutors allege that the founders of the unnamed content material creation firm recognized as Tenet by information shops knew their funding was coming from Moscow.

Based on the indictment, the corporate in query has produced practically 2,000 movies with greater than 16 million cumulative views on YouTube. The clips comprise commentary on a variety of matters associated to U.S. home and overseas coverage. “Whereas the views expressed within the movies aren’t uniform, most are directed to the publicly said objectives of the Authorities of Russia and RT — to amplify home divisions in america,” the Justice Division said. 

It’s believed that the 2 RT workers indicated this week not solely financed the affect operation but additionally performed an energetic function in its day-to-day operations. One of many defendants monitored its funding and hiring. The opposite “posted and directed the posting of a whole lot of movies,” the Justice Division has discovered. 

The Washington Publish reported that YouTube was the principle platform by way of which Tenet Media distributed its movies. The corporate additionally posted its content material to TikTok, Instagram and X.

The indictment is a part of a number of actions that U.S. officers introduced on Wednesday to counter Russian propaganda. The Justice Division additionally seized 32 domains used as a part of Doppelganger, a Russian disinformation marketing campaign that researchers had first uncovered final 12 months. The domains unfold disinformation disguised as content material from authentic information organizations.

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