dissertation on social media influencers

Social Media Influencers: Exploratory Analysis on the Relationships Between Female Millennials and Influencers

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Social media influencer, leigh mcgowan, educates her audience about democracy and the importance of voting..

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Leigh McGowan

The 2024 political campaign marks a notable shift from an exclusive reliance on traditional media to digital platforms. Social media influencers and content creators are emerging as powerful tools to exert influence and amplify political messages specifically in the context of Instagram and Tik Tok. This new dynamic is redefining traditional pathways of political communication , moving beyond the confines of conventional media and political advertising .

“ Social media influencers often bring a more personalized, relatable touch to political engagement, making complex policies more accessible and understandable to the general public. They can mobilize younger demographics, typically less engaged through traditional media channels, and influence them on various issues, from voter turnout to social justice campaigns.”

The elevation and legitimacy of social media as a political tool was most recently acknowledged with the Democratic party’s invitation to top influencers to attend their convention this past August.

Leigh McGowan , aka @Iampoiliticsgirl, content creator, author of The Return to Common Sense: How to Fix America Before We Really Blow It , and political expert, attended the Democratic National Convention at their invitation. McGowan’s popular TikTok channel and podcast establish her legitimacy as an influencer who sees her primary role as educating and informing people of the stakes of this election, the detail of the Democratic party plans, and helping to get out the vote.

McGowan acknowledges that content creators like herself were invited to the Democratic convention “because the Democrats understood that a lot of people, for good reason, don’t trust the mainstream media they way they used to, and a growing majority get their news from independent sources like me.”

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McGowan continues, “The inclusion of creators at the DNC shows the importance of the rise of independent media and the growing influence of the group of people who took it upon themselves to fill a hole in the market, to put truth and facts back into a landscape that’s increasingly moved toward spin and profit. They were looking to connect with the American people and make their case, so they invited a group of people the American public already trusts and listens to, to have their best shot at doing that.”

As digital platforms emerge as the favored way people receive and process information, the role of influencers has become more critical than ever. Social media influencers are “not just commentators or bystanders; they are active participants whose endorsements and criticisms can amplify campaign messages and mobilize voters in unprecedented ways. Moreover, their influence extends beyond mere voter mobilization to shaping the broader discourse around critical issues, making complex and often polarizing topics more accessible and relatable.”

Influencers like McGowan often bring a personal touch to politics, delivering messages in a relatable and engaging manner that resonates with younger audiences who might otherwise be disengaged from political processes . Instagram, known for its visual content and story-sharing capabilities, allows influencers to craft compelling narratives that resonate with their audiences , often leading to heightened awareness and engagement on political matters. “Similarly, with its short-form video format, TikTok has become a breeding ground for viral political content, enabling influencers to reach a broad, often younger audience quickly and effectively.”

“I don’t do the news,” McGowan shared. “I explain the news. It’s not about me looking smart, it’s about my audience feeling smart. I want them to be able to go into the world and talk about what’s going on with confidence. I give the facts in an entertaining way that makes sense. That way they can make sense to other people.”

McGowan’s interest in American politics evolved organically. Born in Canada, she was living in New York City on 9/11. “Watching the city and country come together after that tragedy inspired me to want to be an American citizen. I felt like I had to be part of this country.”

As a citizen, McGowan began paying attention to how American politics works and realized that the country wasn’t living up to its potential. She recognized the need to educate people about American government and democracy.

“Not paying attention to politics, doesn’t mean politics doesn’t affect you. It means you can’t affect it.” McGowan continues, “You can’t fix something you don’t understand. So, I want people to know, because change only happens when people know and care.”

Initially started in 2015 on YouTube as a series of daily informative videos, McGowan formally launched PoliticsGirl in 2020, breaking down complicated issues about democracy and the American political system into digestible bite-sized pieces. “I built PoliticsGirl by putting into words what people were thinking, or thinking what people couldn’t put into words. Over the past four years I’ve created a persona and a project to bridge the gap between people and politics.”

McGowan’s book, A Return to Common Sense , is based on McGowan’s belief that the way we return to common sense in this country is by starting from a common ground; an understanding of how American government works. It’s a political book for non-political people.

A Return to Common Sense book

In the book, McGown outlines what she refers to as The Six American Principles: America is a land of freedom, everyone should have the opportunity to rise, every citizen should have a vote, representatives should represent the people who elected them, the law applies to everyone, and government should be a force for the good. According to McGowan, these six principles serve as a roadmap to “get us out of the chaos we’re currently in” and as a lens for how to consider our politics, and politicians moving forward.

“I’m a firm believer in the American experiment,” McGowan shared. “I believe America can live up to the story we tell the world; that we really can be the land of the free and the home of the brave, where anyone from anywhere can make it if they just work hard enough. I just think we got a bit off track, and we’d be better off to stop telling people we’re the greatest country in the world and actually start trying to be it.”

McGowan closes her book with a quote from Barack Obama on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, “If we want our children to grow up in a true democracy – not just one with elections, but one where every voice matters and every voice counts – we need to nurture and protect it…that responsibility falls to all of us…nothing is more important”. This is McGowan’s mantra.

Bonnie Marcus, M.ED , is the author of Not Done Yet! How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power and The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. An executive coach and speaker, Bonnie is also host of the podcast, Badass Women At Any Age.

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Watch CBS News

U.S. says Russia funded media company that paid right-wing influencers millions for videos

By Stefan Becket , Melissa Quinn

Updated on: September 5, 2024 / 9:02 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Two Russian nationals working for a news network controlled by Vladimir Putin's government funneled millions of dollars to an American media company that paid right-wing influencers for videos pushing narratives favorable to the Kremlin, U.S. prosecutors alleged on Wednesday.

An indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York charged Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, both based in Moscow, with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment came as the Justice Department unveiled sprawling allegations accusing the Russian government of meddling in the 2024 U.S. elections.

The two defendants worked for RT, a media outlet formerly known as Russia Today that is funded and controlled by the Russian government, the indictment said.

Federal prosecutors said RT oversaw a series of "covert projects" that included funneling $10 million through a series of shell entities to a Tennessee-based company launched in 2023 that publishes videos on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Many of the videos published by U.S. Company-1 contain commentary on events and issues in the United States, such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy," the indictment said. "While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia's interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Government of Russia interests, such as its ongoing war in Ukraine."

Though the company is not named in the indictment, prosecutors said that it describes itself as a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues" and features six commentators as its "talent." Tenet Media uses the same phrase in its description  on its website , and other details in the indictment align with the firm. Its website lists six right-wing personalities, including Dave Rubin, who has more than 2.4 million YouTube subscribers; Tim Pool, a podcast host with more than 1.3 million YouTube followers; and Benny Johnson, whose YouTube channel has nearly 2.4 million subscribers. 

Records  with the Tennessee Secretary of State's Office show that Tenet Media incorporated on Jan. 19, 2022, the same date of incorporation mentioned in the indictment, and is headquartered in Nashville. It was founded by Liam Donovan and his wife, Lauren Chen. The founders are referred to as Founder-1 and Founder-2 in the indictment and prosecutors said they jointly run the company.

In response to the indictment of the two Russians, Pool wrote on social media, "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." He said his podcast was licensed by Tenet Media and existed before the license agreement. Pool also said he had full editorial control of the show and its contents, which he said are "often apolitical."

Johnson said in a separate statement shared on social media that his company was pitched by a media startup a year ago to provide content as an independent contractor. He said his lawyers negotiated a "standard, arms length deal" that was later terminated.

"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," Johnson wrote.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that the Kremlin will take action against U.S. media in the wake of the indictment, according to Reuters. She called the indictment a "witch hunt" and said it was designed to scare Americans.

"There will be a response to the actions of the United States authorities which directly contradict their obligations in the areas of providing free access to information and media pluralism," Reuters quoted Zakharova as saying.

The allegations

The indictment alleges that Tenet never disclosed to its audience that it was "funded and directed" by RT, and neither the company nor its founders registered with the Justice Department as an agent of a foreign principal. CBS News has not received a response to a request for comment from Tenet.

It claims that the two RT employees and Tenet's two founders "deceived" two U.S. internet commentators — one with more than 2.4 million YouTube subscribers and the other more than 1.3 million subscribers — and hired them to produce videos for the company, masking the source of funding from RT. Pool appears to be one of the commentators, though it's unclear whether the second is Johnson or Rubin.

The founders claimed that Tenet was sponsored by a private investor named "Eduard Grigoriann," a fake person, and created a fictitious profile of him.

Prosecutors said one of the Tenet founders began soliciting two commentators for work on behalf of "Grigoriann" around February 2023. One of the personalities, described as "Commentator-1," said he would need $5 million annually "for him to be interested" in creating videos for the fake persona, Grigoriann. The other, identified as "Commentator-2," needed $100,000 per weekly episode "to make it worth his while," according to the indictment.

The two commentators eventually entered into contracts, prosecutors said. The contract for Commentator-1 required four weekly videos that he would host and would be livestreamed by Tenet Media in exchange for $400,000 per month and a $100,000 signing bonus. Commentator-2 agreed to provide weekly videos for $100,000 apiece, the indictment states.

Once the company launched in the fall of 2023, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva were involved in the company's day-to-day operations. Kalashnikov was introduced to employees as an outside editor, and according to the indictment, "monitored U.S. Company-1 's internal communications and edited content published by U.S. Company-1, without disclosing that he was an RT employee."

In one instance, the Justice Department alleges Afanasyeva asked one of Tenet's founders to blame Ukraine and the U.S. for a March terrorist attack at a music venue in Moscow, claiming that terrorists were detained while heading for the border with Ukraine, which she said "makes it even more suspicious why would they want to go to Ukraine to hide."

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and a U.S. official told CBS News at the time that the U.S. had intelligence confirming the Islamic State's claims of responsibility.

Afanasyeva grew frustrated that the paid commentators were not sharing enough of Tenet's videos or promoting the company, the indictment said. She created fake personas who joined the company's Discord server and pushed creators to share at least one of the company's videos per day, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Tenet's founders "admitted to each other in their private communications that their 'investors' were, in truth and in fact, the 'Russians.'" At one point, Founder-1 searched for "time in Moscow" on Google while awaiting a response to a message.

The Justice Department said that between October 2023 and August 2024, RT sent wire transfers from shell companies overseas to Tenet totaling more than $9.7 million, which represented almost 90% of its bank deposits. "U.S. Company-1 disbursed most of these funds to its contracted commentators, including approximately $8.7 million to the production companies of Commentator-1, Commentator-2, and Commentator-3 alone," the indictment said.

Tenet Media and RT did not immediately respond to CBS News' requests for comment on the indictment on Wednesday. CBS News also reached out to the Russian Embassy in Washington and did not receive a response.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department "will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country's free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing."

Robert Legare, Julia Kimani Burnham and Nicole Sganga contributed reporting.

Stefan Becket is a managing editor of politics for CBSNews.com. Stefan has covered national politics for more than a decade and helps oversee a team covering the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, immigration and federal law enforcement.

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Right-wing influencers were duped to work for covert Russian operation, US says

Attorney General Merrick Garland accused Russia Wednesday of using state media to enlist unwitting American influencers to spread disinformation ahead of the 2024 election.

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NEW YORK (AP) — They have millions of followers online. They have been major players in right-wing political discourse since Donald Trump was president. And they worked unknowingly for a company that was a front for a Russian influence operation , U.S. prosecutors say.

An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine .

In addition to marking the third straight presidential election in which U.S. authorities have unveiled politically charged details about Russia’s attempted interference in U.S. politics , an indictment indicates how Moscow may be attempting to capitalize on the skyrocketing popularity of right-wing podcasters, livestreamers and other content creators who have found successful careers on social media in the years since Trump was in office.

The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t allege any wrongdoing by the influencers, some of whom it says were given false information about the source of the company’s funding. Instead, it accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based content creation company for Russia-friendly content.

After the indictments were announced, both Pool and Johnson issued statements on social media, which Rubin retweeted, saying they were victims of the alleged crimes and had done nothing wrong.

“We still do not know what is true as these are only allegations,” Pool said. “Putin is a scumbag.”

In his post, Johnson wrote that he had been asked a year ago to provide content to a “media startup.” He said his lawyers negotiated a “standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated.”

Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They are at large, and it was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

U.S. officials have previously warned of Russia’s use of unwitting Americans to further influence operations in the 2024 election, but Wednesday’s indictment is the most detailed description of those efforts to date.

At a forum on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to suggest jokingly that he would support Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming U.S. election. Intelligence officials have said Moscow has a preference for Trump.

Putin authorized influence operations to help Trump in the 2020 election , while his 2016 campaign benefited from hacking by Russian intelligence officers and a covert social media effort, according to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials.

With the decline of traditional media like newspapers and limits on direct advertising on social media platforms, influencers are increasingly playing a key role in politics and shaping public opinion. Both the Republican and Democratic parties invited scores of influencers to their respective national conventions this summer. But with little to no disclosure requirements about who is funding influencers’ work, the public is largely in the dark about who is powering the messaging online.

Though the indictment does not name the Tennessee-based company, the details match up exactly with Tenet Media, an online media company that boasts of hosting “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.” Tenet’s website lists six influencers who provide content, including Pool, Johnson, Rubin, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.

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Tenet Media’s six main influencers have more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 7 million followers on X.

Fueled by public outrage and online fandom, the influencers who make up the bench of talent at Tenet Media have amassed millions of loyal followers who agree with their staunch conservatism and brazen willingness to voice controversial opinions. Their channels also have created communities for conservative Americans who have lost trust in mainstream media sources through Trump’s 2020 loss and the COVID-19 pandemic. Several of them have faced criticism for spreading political misinformation.

The indictment shows that some of the influencers were paid handsomely for their work. One unidentified influencer’s contract included a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus and an additional performance bonus.

Tenet Media’s shows in recent months have featured high-profile conservative guests, including Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake. The nearly 2,000 videos posted by the company have gotten more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, prosecutors said.

Pool, a journalist-turned-YouTuber who first gained public attention for livestreaming the Occupy Wall Street protests, hosted Trump on his podcast earlier this year.

Johnson is an outspoken Trump supporter and internet personality who was fired from BuzzFeed after the company found evidence he’d plagiarized other works.

Rubin was previously part of the liberal news commentary show “The Young Turks” but has since identified as a libertarian. He boasts the largest YouTube following of Tenet’s influencer roster and hosts a show called “The Rubin Report.”

Tenet Media President Liam Donovan is the husband of Lauren Chen, a Canadian influencer who has appeared as a guest in several Tenet Media videos. Chen is affiliated with the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and has hosted shows for the right-wing network Blaze Media. RT’s website also lists her as a contributor of several opinion articles from 2021 and 2022.

Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia. AP reporter Garance Burke contributed from San Francisco and researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Russian money was funneled to right-wing creators through a pro-Trump media outlet, prosecutors say

WASHINGTON — Employees of the Russia-backed media network RT funded and directed a scheme that sent millions of dollars to prominent right-wing commentators through a media company that appears to match the description of Tenet Media, a leading platform for pro-Trump voices, according to an NBC News review of charging documents, business records and social media profiles.

The indictment on Wednesday of two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, includes allegations that the duo implemented a nearly $10 million plan to fund an unnamed Tennessee-based company as one of their “covert projects” to influence American politics by posting videos to TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube.

The company’s description matches that of Tenet Media, according to a review by NBC News of details included in the indictment . Prosecutors said that the website of “Company-1” describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” the exact same language used by Tenet Media on its website and social media channels. The indictment also states that Company-1 is registered in Tennessee and changed its name on or about May 22, 2023. Tennessee Secretary of State records found by NBC News show that Tenet Media entered its new assumed name on the same date: May 22, 2023.

Tenet has partnered with six commentators: Lauren Southern, Tim Pool, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson. The indictment refers to six commentators, who are not named. 

Details included in the indictment match those of two of Tenet’s personalities: Rubin and Pool. As of Wednesday, Rubin’s “The Rubin Report” YouTube channel had 2.44 million subscribers. The indictment refers to “Commentator-1” as having over 2.4 million YouTube subscribers. A person with over 1.3 million YouTube subscribers is referred to as “Commentator-2.” Pool now has 1.37 million subscribers. The indictment also refers to three other commentators, including one with female pronouns, but lacked any information that could directly identify their channels.

It is unclear from the indictment the extent to which each of the commentators realized where the money was coming from, though it stated that “Commentator-1” and “Commentator-2”  were unaware they were being paid by Russian efforts and had been deceived about the source of the funding. It found that $8.7 million was eventually sent “to the production companies of Commentator-1 , Commentator-2, and Commentator-3 alone.” The payments allegedly made up 90% of the deposits made to the company’s account between October 2023 and August 2024.

Tenet Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. A representative for RT responded to a request to comment with a series of text messages including “Hahahaha!” and “We gotta earn our Kremlin paycheck somehow.”

Pool said, in part, in a lengthy statement on X : “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.”

Johnson, also on X , said: “A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated. 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.”

Hansen said, in part, on X : “These allegations come as a complete shock to me and the other hosts at TENET Media. I want to be as clear as possible, I was never directed to report on any topic and had complete freedom and control over my reporting at all times. I would never agree to any arrangement where I am not the sole person in charge of the stories I cover and content I create.”

Rubin said, in part, on X :” These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period.”

Christiansen said, in part, on X : “At no point has anyone ever directed me what to say or not to say, and I would never agree to anything otherwise. My videos and streams for Tenet are exactly the same as my videos and streams on my personal channels. Every word is from me and me alone.” 

The allegations came as part of a wide-ranging move by the Departments of Justice, State and Treasury to target what the Biden administration says are Russian government-sponsored attempts to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the November election. That included charges against the two RT employees, who were accused of conspiring to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York.

The company that would become Tenet Media was registered in Nashville, Tennessee, according to state business records that list the company’s registered agents as Liam Donovan and Lauren Tam. Donovan is a producer, according to his social media pages. Neither of them are named in the indictment.

Tam is better known as Lauren Chen, a ​​video creator for The Blaze and a contributor to Turning Points USA. She is also listed on RT’s website as a contributor. Online, Chen has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticized U.S. support for Ukraine. Public records show Donovan is married to Lauren Tam, which is also reflected in the public profiles of Chen.

Donovan and Tam did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tenet has emerged in recent years as a home for staunch pro-Trump voices, many of whom have interviewed Trump and Trump family members while also supporting conservative causes that mesh with Russia’s own interests. Johnson interviewed Donald Trump Jr. in a video for Tenet Media in February. Many of Tenet’s personalities have espoused anti-Ukraine views. 

Tenet Media personalities have also downplayed the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. One of Tenet’s commentators, Hansen, was inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack and took video of the death of rioter Ashli Babbitt. He testified last year in a House Republican hearing on the prosecution of Jan. 6 defendants. He was not charged in relation to those actions.

The indictment lays out how RT officials — in the wake of sanctions imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — created an “entire empire of covert projects” meant to shape the public opinions of “Western audiences,” in this case using U.S. citizens who acted as intermediaries to pro-Trump political commentators, communicating with them about strategy, payment negotiations and video distribution. 

The indictment includes allegations that some Tenet commentators drove a hard bargain. In one exchange, company officials in internal communications said that “Commentator-1” — likely Rubin — said “it would need to be closer to 5 million yearly for him to be interested,” while “Commentator-2” — likely Pool — said “it would take 100k per weekly episode to make it worth his while.” That led one of the company’s founders to allegedly say that it would be “very hard” for the company to “recoup the costs” based on ad revenue from web traffic or sponsors alone, but that they decided to move forward anyway. 

The indictment also alleges that the two defendants and the two “founders” told two of the commentators that the company was sponsored by a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann,” a fictional persona they described as an “accomplished financial professional” who held positions at a multinational bank in both Brussels and France. The founders, according to the indictment, referenced Grigoriann as their investor with Commentators-1 & 2, but privately acknowledged to each other in online communications that their real investors were “the Russians.”

The indictment further alleges the RT operatives pushed the U.S. commentators to share the Russian-funded content with their larger audiences and openly worried about how few of their “raw videos” were being posted by certain of the company’s talent.

The indictment adds to growing scrutiny on some internet commentators who have increasingly embraced Trump and much of his worldview.

Tim Pool began as a digital journalist for news outlets including Vice News and Fusion, but in recent years has become one of the right’s most popular online influencers. While decrying the right-wing label, Pool has voiced strong support for the re-election of Donald Trump and has hosted guests from the conservative fringe including Proud Boys, Covid conspiracy theorists and avowed antisemites. Pool has reportedly earned more than $1.3 million from YouTube’s livestream “Super Chat” feature. 

Pool, who interviewed Trump this year, has been a frequent critic of U.S. aid for Ukraine, arguing that it equates to a provocation of Russia. 

“Ukraine is our enemy,” Pool posted on X last month , responding to an allegation that a Ukrainian man was involved in the 2022 undersea explosions that damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany. 

Rubin, a self-described libertarian, was an early creator of the “intellectual dark web,” a right-wing online counter-culture movement. His YouTube show, “The Rubin Report,” has promoted fringe and extremist voices . His more recent content is decidedly conservative and, as he announced on Twitter , he registered as a Republican in 2022. Rubin is also a vocal critic of Ukraine, arguing it “ can’t win ” the war against Russia. Last year, he called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a “sellout” for wearing a tie with Ukraine’s blue and yellow colors . 

Southern is a far-right activist from Canada and long-time YouTube personality who was once banned from Airbnb for her affiliation with unspecified groups. She did not respond to a request for comment and did not post on X about the indictment. 

Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who studies disinformation noted this wasn’t Russia’s first attempt at covertly funding U.S. media operations. 

“There are many, many, many examples going back to the Cold War, but certainly more recently, of Russia trying to covertly finance news organizations or content creators who produce content that’s beneficial to Russia,” Schafer said.

He noted Maffick Media , a network of online video channels that targeted millennials with content critical of U.S. foreign policy and American media that in 2019 was discovered to have been secretly funded by Ruptly, an RT subsidiary. The campaign found nowhere near the success of Tenet’s Schafer said.

“Nothing like Tim Pool’s numbers among conservatives,” Schafer said. “You’re not dealing with a sort of influential Twitter account. This is a podcaster who’s reaching millions and has connections to get him in front of Trump. So yeah, this would be the most influential person that they’ve been able to somehow support.”

Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC News.

Lisa Rubin is an MSNBC legal correspondent and a former litigator.

Brandy Zadrozny is a senior reporter for NBC News. She covers misinformation, extremism and the internet.

David Ingram is a tech reporter for NBC News.