United States of America

US Sanctions Russians Over Alleged Election Interference

SEP 5 2024·Updated SEP 6 2024

Story

Above: FBI Director Christopher Wray (R) accompanied by US Attorney General Merrick Garland (L), speaks during an Election Threats Task Force meeting at the Justice Department on Sept. 4, 2024 in Washington, DC. Image credit: Andrew Harnik/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The Facts

The US Departments of Justice (DOJ), State, and Treasury Wednesday took significant steps against what they claim to be Russian government-backed attempts to influence the upcoming US election in November.
NBC
The DOJ accused two employees of Russia Today (RT), Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, of investing $10M in the Tennessee-based company Tenet Media. The DOJ claims American political pundits who worked with Tenet were "deceive[d]" into pushing "hidden Russian government messaging."
ABC News
Breitbart
Besides sanctioning the RT employees, the DOJ blocked dozens of internet domains used for an alleged Russian influence campaign. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, accused the pair of money laundering and failure to register as foreign agents.
CBS News
New York Post
The Treasury also sanctioned RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, who it called a "central figure" in the alleged propaganda campaign, alongside nine other employees including Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva.
guardian
The social media influencers associated with the company include Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, and Tim Pool. In response, Pool wrote on X that while his "Culture War Podcast was licensed by Tenet Media," it "existed well before any license agreement."
guardian
X
The US government documents suggest that a Russian firm sought to boost the chances of Republican nominee Donald Trump or whoever was ultimately selected as the GOP US presidential nominee.
CNN
New York Post

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Russian propaganda efforts have become increasingly sophisticated and persistent in the run-up to European and US elections. As Russia's determination to manipulate Western public opinion grows, its ability to do so, even through artificial intelligence, has made producing propaganda even easier and cheaper. Unless tech and media companies are aware of these schemes, Western countries will have no idea if the content they consume is organic or created by Russia.

wapo

Establishment-critical narrative

While it's true that Russia conducts influence operations, what the FBI and DOJ are trying to do here is smear anyone critical of American military intervention abroad. Political commentators like Tim Pool have always been anti-war, which is why Washington is using this story to paint them as Russian puppets in bad faith. Accordingly, US intelligence agencies are quite literally influencing the election just as they've accused Moscow of doing.

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