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    • What you should know about Tenet, a company with ties to Russian propagandists
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    What you should know about Tenet, a company with ties to Russian propagandists

    Idris Bevan Posted on

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    An indictment released Wednesday alleges that a state-controlled Russian media company funded a Tennessee company. The indictment does not name the company, but a description of the firm matches that of online content creation company Tenet Media. The indictment accuses two Russian nationals employed by the Kremlin-run media company Russia Today of funneling nearly $10 million into secretly funding and running the Tennessee company.

    Here’s what we know about Tenet Media and its possible connection to the allegations in the indictment.

    What is Tenet Media?

    On its website, Tenet Media describes itself as “a network of heterodox commentators focusing on Western political and cultural issues.” This is also how the company mentioned in the indictment describes itself.

    Tenet Media creates and publishes conservative content on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Rumble and X, formerly known as Twitter. The company’s commentators, referred to on its website as its “talent,” include well-known names from conservative media. They include Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, Dave Rubin, Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.

    Accusation: Russian propagandists used a Tennessee content company to spread disinformation

    Who founded Tenet Media?

    Tenet Media was apparently founded by Lauren Chen, a Canadian-born YouTuber and blogger, and a man named Liam Donovan, who appears to be her husband, according to information from multiple sources. Donovan describes himself as the president of Tenet Media in his bio on X and as Chen’s husband in his bio on Instagram.

    Chen, a well-known name in conservative media, used to post on YouTube under the name Roaming Millennial. Canadian business records show that Roaming Millennial Incorporated was registered to Liam Donovan and Lauren Yu Sum Tam, which is likely the social media personality’s legal name.

    Business records on the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website show that Roaming USA Corp., which registered its assumed name “TENET Media” in May 2023, was incorporated in Tennessee on January 19, 2022. Tennessee business records list Liam Donovan as the company’s registered agent. Lauren Tam was previously listed on the records.

    Tenet Media’s phone number is not listed in State Department business records or on the company’s website. An online database accessed by The Tennessean did not list a phone number for either Tam or Donovan.

    Tenet Media’s “headquarters” are in an office building in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, state business records show. Other addresses previously linked to Tenet Media include a two-story, four-bedroom home in Brentwood and a building on Confederate Drive in Franklin.

    “Greater threat”: Federal authorities accuse Russia’s RT network of a $10 million conspiracy to spread election disinformation

    Is Tenet Media named in the Russian influence indictment?

    No. But there are several descriptions of the company in the indictment that fit Tenet Media.

    The indictment states that the company is based in Tennessee and describes itself on its website as “a network of heterodox commentators focused on Western political and cultural issues.” The same message appears on the homepage of Tennessee-based Tenet Media.

    Tenet Media was founded on the same day as the Tennessee company not named in the indictment.

    The indictment says the unnamed Tennessee company has two founders, one of whom described the Tennessee company as a subsidiary of a founder’s Canadian company. Lauren Tam, likely Chen’s legal name, is listed in business filings for both Roaming Millennial in Canada and Roaming USA Corp, Tenet Media’s legal name.

    What does the indictment say?

    The indictment accuses two Russian nationals who worked for the Russian state-controlled media outlet Russia Today of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based online content creation company to post English-language videos on social media sites including TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube.

    The Tennessee-based company is part of an “entire empire of secret projects” that was created to “influence public opinion among ‘Western audiences,'” the indictment says. Many of the videos contain commentary on events and topics such as immigration, inflation, and domestic and foreign policy in the United States, the indictment says.

    The two Russian suspects accused of funneling the money to the company are Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena. They were both at large. They face charges of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry sentences of five and 20 years in prison, respectively, if convicted.

    What is Russia today?

    Russia Today is a media outlet run by the Russian government. The indictment, released on Wednesday, states: “For nearly two decades, Russia Today furthered the goals of the Russian government by spreading disinformation and propaganda, using its international network to spread the Russian government’s message to foreign readers, and masquerading as a conventional media outlet to lend credibility to that message.”

    Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia Today was forced to cease its official operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union, according to the federal government’s indictment.

    “But as RT itself has boasted, despite its broadcast bans after March 2022 and the lack of formal distribution channels in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union, the Russian government continues to use RT to target disinformation and propaganda against Western audiences,” the indictment said.

    Russia Today responded to the allegations in the indictment published on Wednesday with derision: “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections,” the media company told Reuters.

    What did Tenet Media and its commentators say in response?

    Tenet Media did not respond to a message from The Tennessean seeking comment via an online comment box.

    However, several Tenet Media commentators posted statements on social media saying they had full editorial control over the content they created and published on Tenet Media. Tim Pool said he and the other Tenet Media personalities and commentators “were deceived and are victims.”

    More: The former head of Project 2025 appeared on the DOJ media channel, which was called a “covert project” with ties to Russia

    The indictment alleges that the Tennessee-based company’s two founders concealed the company’s true source of funding when entering into contracts with two commentators by falsely stating that the funding came from a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann,” a fictitious person.

    “One year ago, a media startup offered to provide content to my company as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arm’s length contract that was later terminated,” Benny Johnson wrote in a post on X. “We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that I and other influencers were victims of this alleged scheme.”

    Matt Christiansen ended his post on X with the words: “Every word comes from me and me alone.”

    Pool and Johnson falsely claim the indictment was leaked. That’s not the case. A federal judge unsealed the indictment on Wednesday.

    Kirsten Fiscus contributed.

    Evan Mealins is a justice reporter for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter. @EvanMeAlens.

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    Idris Bevan
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