Russia Funds Tenet Media YouTubers

Channel: Alex Kantrowitz

Published at: 2024-09-06

YouTube video id: eypC4RoYtTs

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eypC4RoYtTs

so let's just get to the story that I
think is the most interesting of the
week which is that the doj had this
indictment that it published or unsealed
and it's against the people funding a
YouTube Network called tenet media and
tenant media for those unfamiliar or for
those recently familiar because it's now
sort of exploded into the public
Consciousness is like one of these
YouTube channels that was there for like
effectively independent thought and free
speech and pushing back against Main
narratives and it was composed of a
bunch of conservative YouTubers
including for a while Dave Rubin but
also Tim P Benny Johnson um and and a
handful of others and what did the doj
indict the founders or the funders of
this of this channel for not the
YouTubers but the people putting the
money in that the money was coming from
Russia and that basically the Russians
had had RT this Russian state funded
Network banned in a bunch of Western
countries and deplatformed in a bunch of
Western countries and they needed a new
way to influence public opinion there
and so they decided to go with this
covert methods and I'm writing about
this for big technology as we speak the
story is going to be out today on my
substack and then later on LinkedIn but
it is a fascinating story about how
Russia has basically found a new card in
its uh in the play or a new page in the
Playbook shall we say where it's just
going to try to influence American and
Western public opinion by paying the
thought leaders I don't know whether to
par itage views or try to elevate those
that it believes are on its team but
these people are definitely getting the
I mean Russia's getting its money
money's worth and there's this one clip
that's been circulating online where Tim
P who's one of the channel members he
calls Ukraine the greatest threat to the
United States and the world and demands
an apology to Russia now I think it's
fair to have different opinions on this
Russia Ukraine war and the invasion of
Ukraine um however like this type of
covert influence to me is just
absolutely bananas and YouTube I think
rightly took the channel off the air on
Thursday so Rano what's been your read
on this situation and how significant do
you think tenant media is in terms of
changing public opinion about Russia
related issues in the US and in the
Western World more broadly well it feels
like we're back in 16 again Russia
disinformation elections I mean these
are things that I was actually surprised
seem to be out of the conversation for
the last I call it six to eight months
during the uh runup to the election and
now we're back in a big way on these
topics and this I think is very
important because the idea that you know
Russia is able to pay this third-party
company tenant media essentially a front
company to a number of influen fencers
that then post these type of comments
where it's there's no connection at
least publicly back to Russia whereas
typically in the influencer economy
obviously every platform has been trying
to every fash like brand who's trying to
influence uh advertise through an
influencer has to go through a ton of
Hoops has to disclose paid promotions
influencers are regularly kicked off
platforms for not following those rules
or shadowband for like explicitly for
not following those rules so the idea
for something very important like
geopolitical conflict that influencers
like Tim p and others are able to accept
money to promote very specific messages
I think is a huge problem for these
platforms and I'm glad YouTube took them
down yeah it's very interesting because
it's yes it's Russia uh disinformation
but in this context it's not you know a
contentious election result that people
are mad at Russia for swinging and it's
more just like oh this is like a crazy
story that these influencers got paid
directly and they got paid a lot of
money I mean I looked up what a typical
YouTube video would get in terms of AD
spend and it's something like let's see
like maybe $112 uh you know for every
like 10,000 views and these YouTubers
were getting $100,000 per video and some
of the videos on the tenant media uh
Channel were getting like 7,000 views
okay that's that doesn't make any sense
and um and I think that what's been
interesting about this is that
effectively both sides of the political
aisle United and said that this is
ridiculous and they should have been you
know the PE the comments who are like
calling themselves victims and they may
be technically be victims you know in
the victim and and sort of uh criminal
terminology but these people should have
known better and everybody can see it
and you don't want to have people who
are I don't know effectively Stooges for
the Russian government uh out there
influencing on its behalf and not
disclose that type of thing and so you
know in that context I think it's been
very interesting to see the reaction and
to me like one of the interesting things
is just been like the denial from some
of the influencers in terms of like
being totally surprised that this is
where the money is coming from and I
write about this a little bit in my big
technology story that'll be out when
this show is out but like there was one
of the comments uh commentators who was
like pretty dubious about the funding
and the Russians effectively made up
this sort of very wealthy individual
Edward Gregorian and the person's like
can I see a press release an interview a
LinkedIn profile anything with him and
what the Russians passed back is this
one pager about him and it has like his
name up top and um you know he's sitting
in a private plane and looking out the
window window and you know it's
basically saying that he's upset at
mainstream media bias and
misrepresentation because it's hurting
some of it his Investments but of course
he's not found anywhere else in the
world and they like sent the commentator
this this commentator this one sheet and
he was like
okay I'll take the money it's crazy well
I I think that is why we're seeing
alignment between both sides of the
political aisle because every other
uh online Voice or influencer is
probably pretty pissed because they know
the economics as you just said of how
this all works and while people are
trying to sell $5 a month subscriptions
to their newsletter or rack up 12 bucks
for a YouTube video and get that has
thousands of views and then they're
seeing a Tim pool or whoever else
getting tens of thousands of dollars for
one video they know something's up Tim
pool knew something was up and to not
question that I think is what is raising
the eye of everyone around but I think
that point of the victim complex to me
is pretty infuriating like the idea that
you were duped when you're being pushed
to promote very specific messages for
way too much money that don't make any
sense in any other context I think it
matters but I also think it it is a
indictment of media in general right now
because I mean the fact that this tenant
media wased supposedly funded by a
billionaire and then you were told to
push a specific message and that wasn't
the red flag enough that everyone's like
oh well that makes sense billionaire
funded media that is telling me to say
something specific I'm good with that
that the a lot of media has already
moved to that level where that part
people wouldn't even question or thought
was completely okay right and so like a
lot of people are like was this actually
a good investment by Russia because a
lot of these commentators will probably
be saying the same thing anyways and I I
think that they were given effectively
free reign to say what they wanted to
say but like the influence was sort of
uh wielded in some other ways through
the channel so I was just like looking
through some of the examples and some of
these examples are crazy so first of all
uh there's that pool clip that I
mentioned otherwise earlier there's also
the Russians uh pushed them to uh create
a video tying the terror attack in
Moscow to Ukraine even though like Isis
was claiming responsibility at that time
they were like no just say it was
Ukraine right there was also a example
where R RT employees actually got access
to publish videos directly to the
channel according to the indictment and
and here's one of my favorite ones which
was they uh the Russians asked the
channel to publish the video of tuckle
Carlson fawning over a Russian grocery
store this is good there were some some
like push back like like are we Shilling
too much and they're like all right fine
we'll just we'll push it out as well I
mean this is some crazy stuff this is
the problem though so now you know now
the world knows that certain
commentators are accepting money from
Russia even whether they are unwitting
idiots or whatever the term is or not uh
useful idiots or not but and that is
influencing what they're saying and
maybe they would saying it otherwise and
maybe they're only saying it a bit
stronger now because of the money so one
would assume they should not be trusted
anymore but I don't think that's going
to happen I mean I don't I don't think
again we s Tucker Carlson flew to Russia
and fawned in the grocery store so much
that even the Russia Today RT people
said it was not believable or it was too
much and he I guess is doing fine he
certainly he's certainly viral now or
racks up millions of views whether he's
popular or not or actually has influence
is a different question that we'll
debate a little bit later um about the
influence of media in general right now
but but I think it that's kind of the
sad part that I don't think this is
going to actually affect the reputation
of most of these people I disagree I
think that the difference is that it's
been shown that these guys have been
paid by Russia and like and and we're
you know effectively too stupid or too
disinterested in finding out where the
money comes from and you just lose a lot
of credibility when you're at when
you're there cuz like they're out there
now like let's say this is by the way
this is all predicated on the doj's
charges being proven uh so we'll put
that out there but like let's say
they're proven um you you have these
folks who are out there saying that
they're the victims here they've taken
out un worldly you know amounts of money
they've talked about how like they are
so surprised like where this money is
coming from and they're asking people to
trust them on other stuff there's going
to be core groups of fans that are going
to be like all right I'm still with you
but I I think otherwise like there
there's a chance that like they will be
looked at as clowns from now on I disag
I completely disagree I think a grifter
the very nature of grifting involves
grifting and getting money from
somewhere and every there's kind of this
unspoken arrangement because these are
entertainers they're not yes plenty of
people take them seriously but in
reality I think they're still genuinely
entertainers and they're getting paid
from somewhere whether that's selling
supplements whether that's taking money
from a geopolitical foe whether that's
just simply branded endorsements
whatever it is there whether it's
getting uh Hawk Tu a girl getting paid
by Jake Paul's media company that has
you know like that any one of these
scenarios the person is getting money
from somewhere and I I I think a Tim
pool or a lot of these people yes you
could somewhat a small group of people
might consider them serious commentators
or even quote unquote journalists but I
think most people are just like they are
entertaining and they kind of validate
what I'm already thinking and they're
good and angry about it and that's how
this the whole grifting economy works
for Better or For Worse and it's kind of
ing but I think that uh I I don't think
they're going to going away or going to
take any kind of reputational hit maybe
so uh but I also think we're bearing the
lead here a little bit which is that
tenant media is not the only Channel
That's operating this way and I think
that most of the media missed the fact
that there are multiple operations like
this that the doj just came out and said
it and it hasn't really been picked up
so the doj in its indictment said the RT
employee running this project actually
manages and I'm quoting from the
indictment multiple RT covert
distribution channels in the United
States and the RT Editor in Chief has
also boasted that the company has an
enormous Network an entire Empire of
covert projects that is working with the
public opinion so this is just one and I
think it's important in the state RT
effectively baned a the platform when
Russia invades Ukraine do they just fold
up their cards no they try to do these
covert operations which we've just
learned about one of them and like you
mentioned it's impossible for platforms
to pick this up because everything is
done behind the scenes the recruiting
the payments the editorial Direction
usually in discords or in text messages
or on WhatsApp signal and it's very very
difficult to pick up so now we know
about one of them but the deal J is
saying there are multiple so my question
for you is and obviously this is
speculation how far do you think this
goes oh I think this goes incredibly far
there's there's so many times where
especially on Twitter now and all and
actually for a long time there's just
certain reactions to certain stories
that are so over the-top or have such a
very specific bent even during the
Olympics the whole boxer is a female
male like that whole thing felt like
there was there was an extra push uh to
make that story a story story rather
than just you know something fleeting
that a few people are arguing over but
really rise to the top and this is
something that I mean having looked at
this stuff a lot especially back in like
201617 and just algorithmic media in
general all it takes is a little bit of
a concerted push and that's how these
platforms still work so there's still I
mean and you have It's a combination of
you have this kind of operation that's
paying uh influencer to spread a very
specific message who already has a
following then you have you know have
you ever seen those like photos and
videos of those click Farms of people
with a bunch of phones I actually when I
was in Taiwan one of my Uber drivers had
10 phones on the dashboard and I asked
him and he said he just Scrolls and
likes Tik Tok videos and is paid to do
it and like he was just like yeah yeah
you know whenever I'm in between rides I
just sit there and make money this way
so like this is this is happening this
is everywhere so on both sides you
choose you're focused I want to spread a
very specific message I have two levers
to pull I have the influencer side who
already has a following and then I can
juice those numbers and posts with click
Farm it's a reminder that so much of the
anger and rage or just conflict on the
platforms is definitely manufactured and
a lot of people fall into it and it's
that's why everyone should remember if
you're getting a little fired up on any
kind of platform probably there's some
unseen Force that's pushing you and it's
in their benefit and I don't think I
sound a little conspiratorial there but
I genuinely believe it this like going
to be the most conspiratorial episode of
big technology podcast ever cuz I'm like
wondering who else is getting that money
from Russia could would it be one member
of the all-in podcast no I wouldn't say
that well no but I I am positive that
there is also very left-wing influencers
who are also receiving whether directly
or indirectly money from Russia and this
is not trying to both side just Russia
by the way yeah oh yeah but yeah anyone
who's just cuz sewing any kind of
division in conflict is the most obvious
thing in the interest of a lot of these
countries that have
budgets for exactly this kind of thing
and again it's something that the
information Warfare like this has been
executed by every country forever this
is just the pl the Battleground now are
you telling me the core strategic error
of the big technology podcast was trying
to go cool-headed and nuanced because we
would never attract nation state funding
in that way in that way without being
how do you how do you know how do you
know I don't have a have wire transfer
incoming from from Russia from the axis
of Evil right now the Russia to ranan
connection I think it all makes sense
now all your positions these all my very
all my
positions generative generative AI is
reaching a trough of disillusionment is
a narrative that I was specifically told
to push by Putin himself yes well
congratulations I mean if you if you are
making that money I'm happy for you Ron
I'm glad we've provided a platform for
you to get rich from Bad
actors it's everybody's dream few can
live it few can live it