A Tennessee-based media company with prominent MAGA personalities on its roster has been accused of receiving millions of dollars from two employees of Russian state-backed media company Russia Today (RT) in order to influence American viewers.
According to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, the Russian employees created a $10 million scheme “to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
It wouldn’t be surprising to hear the influencers knew full well they were being funded by Russia.
Nor would it be surprising to learn they were completely duped since they’re into that sort of thing–just like their followers.
The NPR story I just recently listened to seems to claim it’s a mix of the two. Or maybe a bunch of them are lying.
I saw an X thread that alleged that Lauren Chen and her husband were the ones who worked with the Russians and tricked the other commentators, although they thought that things looked a lil bit fishy.
https://x.com/AGHamilton29/status/1831429242292465879
But that’s not proof, just an X thread, I’d like to see more analysis on this.
Edit: Which NPR show did you listen to? I’d like to hear that episode.
I wish I knew, I was driving at the time. Maybe the morning edition or Upfirst? With the app, they just start playing until I select something specific.
I have both those podcasts in my app so I’ll see if I can find the story in their most recent episodes. Thanks!
Duped but I’d say more than willingly duped since it’s not hard to pick up on the slant of the ‘news’ angle they are being pushed to put out. Someone is giving you $100k a month and they decided to not rock the boat.