Sept 9 (Askume) – Russia is increasingly turning to American social media stars to secretly influence voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to U.S. officials and recently unsealed criminal charges.
“What we’re seeing is that they’re relying on Americans, intentionally or unintentionally, to promote narratives that are in the interest of these foreign actors,” a senior intelligence official said at a press conference on Friday. “They’re relying more on the opinions of other Americans.”
U.S. security agencies see this approach as Russia’s favorite tactic for making its external psychological campaigns appear more realistic. Overall, experts say, the missions are often designed to anger Americans, highlight social divisions and underscore partisanship while raising questions about the U.S. government’s effectiveness and role in global security.
“We are concerned about these tactics because the American public needs to understand what they are reading online, particularly on social media,” another senior U.S. intelligence official told reporters at a July briefing on election security. “It could also be foreign propaganda if it appears to be coming from a fellow American. “In short, foreign influence actors are becoming increasingly adept at hiding their hands and using Americans to do so.”
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On Wednesday, the Justice Department unveiled criminal charges against two former employees of Russian media outlet Russia Today (RT), saying they secretly funded an American political media company.
The indictment outlines an alleged scheme in which Russians sent nearly $10 million to two media business owners, Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan, who paid conservative American influencers to create videos and social media posts. Some of the commentators shared anti-Ukrainian content at various times, consistent with the effort’s priorities. Chen and Donovan did not respond to requests for comment.
Although the indictment does not name the accused media organization, Askume found it is a Tennessee-based company called Tenet Media, which publicly describes itself as the home of “Fearless Voices.” Tenet did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Historically, it has employed a number of well-known social media personalities, including podcaster Tim Poole and former journalist Benny Johnson.
The indictment alleges that Chen and Donovan knew they were receiving money from Russian agents, but that the commentators they paid were unaware of the arrangement.
Tenet manages a YouTube channel and several other social media profiles, where it posts videos and recordings of contributors. According to court documents, Tenet’s founder directed an unnamed commentator to make false claims to an online audience that Ukraine, not ISIS, was responsible for a deadly terrorist attack in Moscow in April.
Poole and Johnson issued statements Wednesday night acknowledging the indictment against Tenet. Poole said, “No one has full editorial control of the show except me,” and “I, along with other celebrities and commentators, feel defrauded and victimized.” Johnson similarly wrote in a statement that he was “outraged by the allegations in today’s indictment, which clearly demonstrates that I and other influential individuals were victims of this alleged scheme.”
Experts say the plan is in line with historical trends.
“Paying journalists or frontline media outlets to promote disinformation was a very well-established process during the Cold War, and this is a digital update on that,” said digital disinformation analyst Renee DiResta. “Interestingly, they use influencers — not journalists — to identify influential voices in the community.”
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In related but separate documents filed Wednesday, the Justice Department also revealed an independent Russian operation called “Doppelganger,” which mimicked real Western news media and published reports about U.S. political candidates and the war in Ukraine to share error messages. The effort is reportedly led by the Russian government through a group of Russian marketing agencies called Social Design Agency, Structura National Technology, and ANO Dialog.
In evidence presented in court, prosecutors cited internal exhibits by Russian marketing agencies describing their methods and tools. The documents show that a key element of the scheme was to identify influential Western figures with sympathetic views and find ways to work with them.
A presentation described how they worked with “influential figures among traditional value supporters who advocated for an end to the war in Ukraine and peaceful relations between the United States and Russia, and engaged in the narratives of the propaganda project, including actors, politicians, and experts”.
A second report said Russian companies were actively monitoring a total of 2,800 influencers, 600 of them from the United States, including radio hosts, bloggers and comedians.
“Russian influencers have made distinct efforts this election cycle to build networks and leverage American and other Western celebrities to craft and manipulate stories favorable to Russia,” the senior intelligence official said. “They have also used the Internet, written for various websites, and conducted other media activities with direct or indirect ties to the Russian government.”
It is unclear when and how the FBI warned American social media stars about their alleged involvement in foreign influence activities. In a briefing with reporters in July, a senior intelligence official said “this is a complex answer” that is “obviously situation-specific” and would need to be discussed with the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which oversees US intelligence agencies’ interactions.
So-called “defense briefings” are becoming popular for warning Americans that they are targets of foreign influence, an official close to the director of national intelligence said Friday.
(This story has been modified in paragraph 9 to say Tenet no longer manages YouTube accounts)
