Here’s What Right-Wing Influencers Actually Talked About in Tenet Media Videos Allegedly Financed by Russia

In hundreds of videos since taken down by YouTube, right-wing influencers moving for Tenet Media—a institution the US Department of Justice alleges was financed and guided by a state-backed Russian quality network—showed involvement successful a highly circumstantial acceptable of topics, according to a WIRED analysis.

Using closed captioning of the videos we downloaded earlier the videos were removed, we've compiled lists of presumption often mentioned successful them, on with a searchable database:

The contented of these videos was described by prosecutors arsenic “consistent” with Russia’s aims to sow governmental discord successful the US. Among the areas covered: escaped speech, amerciable immigrants, diverseness successful video games, expected racism toward achromatic people, and Elon Musk.

While an indictment unsealed earlier this week does not sanction Tenet, WIRED and different outlets were capable to place it due to the fact that prosecutors gave its motto arsenic that of a concern identified arsenic “U.S. Company-1.” Prosecutors allege that 2 employees of the state-backed Russian web RT, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, who are charged with conspiracy to perpetrate wealth laundering and to interruption the Foreign Agents Registration Act, paid Tenet and its genitor institution $9.7 cardinal to nutrient and administer videos supporting Russian aims. The immense bulk of that wealth allegedly went to Tenet’s web of fashionable influencers, which included Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern.

The influencers—who person not responded to requests for remark (Johnson, Pool, Rubin, and chap talents Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen issued statements denying consciousness of the alleged Russian power strategy and portraying themselves arsenic its victims)—are not accused by the authorities of wrongdoing. Prosecutors accidental that right-wing property Lauren Chen and her hubby Liam Donovan, Canadian nationals who founded Tenet—the two, who person not been charged with immoderate crime, spell unnamed successful the indictment, but are tied to the concern done firm records—were alert they were moving with Russians and failed to registry “as an cause of a overseas principal, arsenic required by law.” The indictment alleges that the pair, who were not indicted, did not pass the influencers oregon different Tenet employees astir the root of their funding.

Nonetheless, Afanasyeva, utilizing fake personae, “edited, posted, and directed the posting by [Tenet] of hundreds of videos,” the indictment says. The indictment does not place circumstantial videos arsenic allegedly influenced by the RT employees, but prosecutors accidental they were intimately progressive successful Tenet’s editorial process: “While the views expressed successful the videos are not uniform, the taxable substance and contented of the videos are often accordant with the Government of Russia's involvement successful amplifying US home divisions successful bid to weaken US absorption to halfway Government of Russia interests, specified arsenic its ongoing warfare successful Ukraine."

To find what specifically the Russian authorities is alleged to person funded, WIRED downloaded the closed captioning transcripts from 405 longform videos posted connected Tenet’s YouTube channel—you tin entree the record here—and utilized earthy connection processing to place communal themes. These 405 video transcripts correspond astir each longform video disposable connected the channel. We were not capable to analyse astir 1600 YouTube shorts earlier the transmission was removed from the site. We analyzed the information looking for the astir often occurring two-, three-, and four-word phrases successful each video, excluding words similar “um” that don’t transportation overmuch meaning. (“Um” appears successful the dataset 2,340 times.)

This investigation does not amusement that successful these videos the influencers were peculiarly fixated connected the Ukraine war—the connection “Ukraine” appears successful the transcripts 67 times, astir arsenic often arsenic “misinformation,” “Christianity,” and “Clinton.” It does amusement the influencers stressing highly divisive civilization warfare topics successful the videos, which carried titles similar “Trans Widows Are A Thing And It’s Getting OUT OF HAND” and “Race Is Biological But Gender Isn't???” The connection “trans” appears 152 times, and “transgender” 98.