US media outlet revealed to have received bribes from Russia: They couldn't stop praising Russia
It is alleged that an unnamed media outlet in the US received millions of dollars in bribes from Russia's state-backed news agency RT. According to claims in the US media, it was determined that the institutions in question began producing pro-Russian content after receiving the bribes.
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The US Department of Justice has announced that an indictment has been prepared against a Tennessee-based company on charges of receiving millions of dollars from the state-backed Russian media outlet RT and 'spreading pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation to US audiences via social media.' US media reported that the unnamed media outlet could be Tenet Media.
Although politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties have approved defense spending for Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia, a group of Republicans gathered around presidential candidate Donald Trump are calling for aid to be reduced or stopped entirely.
Some of the figures working with Tenet Media are also within this group.
Tenet Media worked with right-leaning figures such as Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and Tim Pool.
'WE SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO RUSSIA'
Among the allegations is that the broadcasters accused of taking bribes began producing content praising Russia during the periods when the bribes were believed to have been distributed. The US Department of Justice announced in a statement that the content of 'some figures believed to have received bribes' is under investigation.
In a YouTube blog post sent to his 1.3 million subscribers in August, Pool wrote, 'Ukraine is the enemy of this country.'
Pool said the following in his post:
'Ukraine is our enemy, funded by the Democrats... Ukraine is the greatest threat to this nation and the world. We should cancel all funds and financing, withdraw all our military support, and apologize to Russia.'
Pool denied the allegation that he, along with Rubin and others, received bribes in a message shared on the X platform.
Pool wrote, 'No one other than me has ever had full editorial control of the program, and the content of my program is generally apolitical.'
It was stated that the mentioned broadcasters frequently used expressions of praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
SANCTIONS DECISION TAKEN AGAINST RUSSIAN MEDIA OUTLETS DISTRIBUTING BRIBES
In addition to filing federal charges against RT, which is alleged to have transferred money to Tenet, the US Department of the Treasury also imposed economic sanctions.
Al Jazeera, in a report on the subject, stated that conservative commentator Dimitri Simes, a former Russia-born advisor to Trump, is also accused of working on behalf of Channel One, another Russian broadcasting organization that was sanctioned.
According to analysts, this incident is an example of how Russia can influence Americans who do not trust the state and mainstream media.
Seva Gunitsky, an associate professor of Russian politics at the University of Toronto, said, 'Russian foreign propaganda cannot work without pre-existing Western prejudices.'
Gunitsky describes the 'information war' between Russia and the US as follows:
"The Kremlin defines its goal as destabilizing its rivals rather than supporting a specific ideological agenda... (Russia) can only do this by deepening existing divisions, not by creating new narratives."