What is Tenet Media? Controversy surrounding Tim Pool and more right-wing influencers explained amid revelatory DOJ indictment 

Tenet Media, a US company that produces shows for right-wing commentators including Tim Pool and Benny Johnson, has been making headlines recently after several outlets reported its involvement with a Russian news network.

A federal indictment unsealed by the US Department of Justice via a press release on Wednesday, September 4, has claimed that a Tennessee-based company received millions of dollars in funds from two employees of RT, Russia’s first state-backed 24/7 English-language news network. Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva have been named as the RT employees.

While the company was not named in the DOJ’s indictment and was mentioned as ‘Company 1,’ various news outlets, including CBS News and WIRED, identified it as Tenet Media. The DOJ's indictment has claimed that Company 1 was paid to push the Kremlin-approved narrative about global affairs on social media platforms.

Meanwhile, the names of conservative influencers, including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Matt Christiansen, Tayler Hansen, and Lauren Southern, have popped up since their works are backed by Tenet Media. However, they have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme. My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise,” Benny Johnson posted on X.

Benny added that the media startup reached out to him a year back, and even though he was under contract with them, the contract has since been “terminated.”

Similarly, Tim Pool wrote on the platform,

“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.”

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All you need to know about Tenet Media and the reasons behind its indictment

Tenet Media is a Tennessee-based network founded by conservative influencer Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan. It has the tagline “Fearless voices live here.” The network has over 3,15,000 subscribers on YouTube, 2000+ videos, and a viewership of 16 million. It also has thousands of other followers on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok, taking the total count to over a million.

According to its official website, Tenet Media is a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.” It has images of the six right-wing influencers on its home page, including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Matt Christiansen, Tayler Hansen, and Lauren Southern, as well as their bios under the description “Meet the talent.”

“Our goal is to support creators who question institutions that believe themselves to be above questioning. In our view, all issues du jour merit rigorous and honest discussion if one wants to come closest to the truth,” Tenet Media's website says.

It further mentions that people “interested in authentic coverage of the topics that matter the most” should refer to Tenet Media as their ultimate home for content. From domestic to foreign policies to immigration and inflation issues, the company’s content had a widespread focus.

As per the DOJ’s federal indictment, Company 1 intentionally and actively hid its connections to the Russian network RT from the individual influencers. Besides, the company was allegedly aware of its Russian connections yet did not “register” with the U.S. Attorney General’s office as agents of “a foreign principal, as required by law.”

Referred to as ‘Company 1’ in the court documents, the DOJ has claimed it received over $9.7 million from RT. According to the indictment, $8.7 million from the total amount was provided to the personal production companies of three unnamed commentators. One of them, called ‘Commentator 1’, reportedly received a deal for $400,000 a month for four weekly contents.

Additionally, Company 1 has been accused by the DOJ of taking roughly 90 percent of its entire funds from RT. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, the RT employees indicted, have reportedly worked with the company to create content, including hundreds of images and videos, to promote the Russian government’s goals in the Western world.

“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 DOJ’s press release read.

Additionally, they were seemingly closely involved in the day-to-day operations of the media company, including monitoring “internal communications and edited content,” using fake IDs to “edit, post, and direct” the content posted on social media, and instructing the U.S. company to produce “pro-Russian viewpoints.”

The duo is currently facing multiple federal felony charges, including conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering. However, the bureau and DOJ have been unable to trace their location so far.