Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson's company Tenet Media allegations

13,873 Views | 188 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by Reality Denier
aTmAg
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AG
It's all over reddit that these guys were exposed as receiving funding from Russia. After clicking around and trying to find a source article, I found this:
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2024/09/04/indictment-russians-tennessee-company-tenet/75074263007/
Quote:

Two Russian nationals who worked for Russia Today, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, were indicted on accusations they funneled nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based online content creation company to publish English-language videos on social media sites like TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube. The company's more than 2,000 videos posted in the last 10 months have been viewed more than 16 million times just on YouTube, according to the indictment.
The article states that Tenet Media is not directly named, but that context clues point to them:
Quote:

The indictment, unsealed in the federal court for the Southern District of New York, doesn't identify the Tennessee company, but descriptions in the indictment match those of Tennessee-based Tenet Media.

The indictment states the company described itself on its website as "a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues." Tennessee-based company Tenet Media has the same message on its homepage. The indictment states the Tennessee-based company was incorporated around Jan. 19, 2022, which matches records from the Tennessee Secretary of State's Office. The indictment says the company applied to the Tennessee Department of State to conduct business on May 22, 2023.
I don't trust reddit as far as I can throw it, and I don't know crap about the Tennessean. So I'm not sure how legit this is.

Since this came out, there have been posts of Tim Pool clips where he declares nonsense like "Ukraine is the #1 threat to America" and that "we need to apologize to Russia". (F that.) I don't know if Dave Rubin or Benny Johnson have been claiming similar things. Occasionally I see clips from the latter 2 on YouTube and they are always of them merely commenting on clips of other conservatives making legitimate arguing against libs. I can't remember hearing anything profound coming out of their brains directly. So to me, it would be no big loss.

Anyway, if this is true, I can't see how anybody takes them seriously at all anymore.
DogCo84
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AG
agracer
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AG
Is it illegal for a foreign company to advertise in the US on social media?
Phatbob
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AG
The left is not the only place where there are grifters. That is why it is important to be skeptical of all sources of news or opinion, not just the ones you disagree with.
Old McDonald
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that would sure explain some things



Old McDonald
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tim pool posted and deleted this yesterday:



DrEvazanPhD
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Old McDonald said:

that would sure explain some things


Or maybe he noticed how much you lefties hate people not like you.
HTownAg98
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agracer said:

Is it illegal for a foreign company to advertise in the US on social media?

If you commit FARA violations and launder money to do it, then yeah, that's a problem.

The indictment is here if anyone wants to read it. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1366266/dl
I don't think Pool, et al did anything wrong. This reads like they were just the "useful idiots" to help spread Russian propaganda. But, they would be wise to remember that everyday is stfu Friday and find something else to talk about for the time being.

hedge
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Hard to take a 40 year old man who wears a beanie religiously seriously
Im Gipper
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Quote:

Anyway, if this is true, I can't see how anybody takes them seriously at all anymore.
I don't know how anyone ever took Pool seriously, but definitely now.

Its been clear for a long time that he just says thing that he believes will be profitable.

It does appear that he did not know this was all Russia funded.

I'm Gipper
aTmAg
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AG
From that clip alone, I will declare Tim Pool an idiot on the Russia/Ukraine war.

Whether or not he is bought and paid for is to be seen. It's one thing if Russia paid him and then he came out anti-Ukraine (or amped it up) it's another if he was already anti-Ukraine and Russia decided to fund his company to amplify his (idiotic) voice.
aTmAg
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AG
Im Gipper said:

Quote:

Anyway, if this is true, I can't see how anybody takes them seriously at all anymore.
I don't know how anyone ever took Pool seriously, but definitely now.

Its been clear for a long time that he just says thing that he believes will be profitable.

It does appear that he did not know this was all Russia funded.
What makes you say that?
Im Gipper
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I believe the indictment says the on-air talent did not know.

I'm Gipper
Aggie Apotheosis
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aTmAg said:

From that clip alone, I will declare Tim Pool an idiot on the Russia/Ukraine war.

Whether or not he is bought and paid for is to be seen. It's one thing if Russia paid him and then he came out anti-Ukraine (or amped it up) it's another if he was already anti-Ukraine and Russia decided to fund his company to amplify his (idiotic) voice.


Tim Pool has a ninth-grade education. I'm willing to buy his explanation that he didn't know that he was being used as a Putin toady because he's both stupid and uneducated. But anybody who has been following him and didn't know that he's a stooge? They have no excuse. All that "Ukraine is our enemy" stuff? Come on!
Canyon Lake Agbu94
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Once you understand that all media is propoganda, it all makes more sense.
TAMU1990
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AG
Metaphorically, Ukraine is a problem. We are sending them ungodly amounts of money. Some of it is a kick back to our politicians. I'm against spending this money there for nothing.
Texas velvet maestro
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leading up to election, gonna be wild.

Trump/Vance all the way.
DanielDay
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Im Gipper said:

I believe the indictment says the on-air talent did not know.
When he said pro-Russia material, he got a big payday. When he talked about other topics, he didn't. Hmm.
sam callahan
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we should definitely take people's financial motivations under consideration when listening to their opinions on the war.

what industry does the OP work for again?
sam callahan
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Quote:

Ukraine is our enemy

I don't believe they are our enemy.

I do believe their leaders are corrupt and are skimming huge chunks off the aid we provide them and in turn, some of that money is finding its way back to our leaders.

That certainly does not make them our friend.
fixer
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I'm more shocked at how much was offered to Tim per podcast.
johnnyblaze36
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AG
hedge said:

Hard to take a 40 year old man who wears a beanie religiously seriously
There's a spin-off joke to be had here but I'm not going to make it.
Old McDonald
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DrEvazanPhD said:

Or maybe he noticed how much you lefties hate people not like you.
ah yes the lefties, famously responsible for the proliferation of "civil war 2.0" rhetoric
Who?mikejones!
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So it's illegal for Russia to pay podcasters/influencers to say things but it's fine for a presidential campaign to do the same?
oh no
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AG
Russia didn't need to be our enemy. Cold War has been over for a while.

re: Ukraine: USA and the west didn't need to keep provoking Russia with nato expansion threats, something they promised they wouldn't do. They didn't need to install an anti-russia government. They didn't need to operate 46 biolabs there. They didn't need to turn it into a money laundering playground for elitists where their sons serve on the boards of Ukrainian companies. They didn't need to make silly comments about "minor incursions". ..but USA did all of that. And then after the incursion, USA sabotaged a multi-billion dollar subsea energy project that was supposed to bring cheaper gas to western Europe as well as sent Boris Johnson to prevent negotiated peace talks that would have ended a senseless war and deaths.

USA shouldn't be totally isolationist, but they need to stop wasting our money all over the world meddling in everyone else's affairs and provoking wars that we then need to fund and shadow run.

I will say that for free. Russia doesn't need to pay me to say that. ...and my grandmother, my Babushka, was born and raised in Kiev.
Old McDonald
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aTmAg said:

From that clip alone, I will declare Tim Pool an idiot on the Russia/Ukraine war.

Whether or not he is bought and paid for is to be seen. It's one thing if Russia paid him and then he came out anti-Ukraine (or amped it up) it's another if he was already anti-Ukraine and Russia decided to fund his company to amplify his (idiotic) voice.
either way not a good look. the indictment implies that the tenet founders were aware of the source of the funding but concealed it from the commentators, though it's hard for me to believe pool organically arrived at the conclusion that "ukraine is our biggest enemy" while receiving $100k per episode from russian state media. at best, he was a useful idiot for them.
AggieUSMC
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AG
Quote:

Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson's company Tenet Media allegations
Tenet Media is not "their" company nor are they parties in the indictment. They simply license their content to Tenet Media for exclusive broadcast rights.
HTownAg98
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The fake persona they created to dupe Pool should have been easy to figure out with a simple google search.
Old McDonald
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Who?mikejones! said:

So it's illegal for Russia to pay podcasters/influencers to say things but it's fine for a presidential campaign to do the same?
yeah i can't imagine why a country would make it illegal for hostile enemy nations to secretly fund and disseminate their state propaganda within its borders
aTmAg
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AG
sam callahan said:

we should definitely take people's financial motivations under consideration when listening to their opinions on the war.

what industry does the OP work for again?
What are you implying? That I want this war to continue? Despite the fact that the system I work on has zero role in the Ukraine/Russia war? And that us funding alternative weapons takes funding away from the one I work on?

Not to mention that before the war started, I was pushing for Biden to take a strong early stance to AVOID war. I criticized the hell out of when he made that "minor incursion" comment. Now that it has started, I have been pushing for Ukraine to win as quickly as possible? Why would I do any of that if I merely wanted to "cash in" on a 100 year war?


The reason I want Putin to lose is because HE provided weapons and funding to our enemies that got Americans soldiers killed. That MOFO needs some payback. Hopefully one of his lieutenants shoots him in the head and ends this soon.
Who?mikejones!
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Yet, your people wanna cover for illegal immigrant crime.

The point is, it's state sponsored propaganda either way. I'd probably agree that neither is necessarily "free speech" and therefore could be regulated to some degree
Tea Party
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Old McDonald said:

DrEvazanPhD said:

Or maybe he noticed how much you lefties hate people not like you.
ah yes the lefties, famously responsible for the proliferation of "civil war 2.0" rhetoric
Group A says they hate Group B and wants to control their lives and limit their freedom.

Group B says woah, if you keep that up then we can't peacefully coexist and it might cause a civil war, so please tone it down so we can avoid that.

Group A ramps up their tactics and blames Group B for "civil war 2.0 rhetoric".

HTH.

And I think Pool is a useful idiot but certainly do not paint Ukraine as the innocent victim nor Russia as the big bad evil entity. Both sides have their varying degrees of good and bad that we can criticize.
Learn about the Texas Nationalist Movement
https://tnm.me
Serious Lee
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heard lauren southern was named in this too. that just tickles me
RGLAG85
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AG
Who?mikejones! said:

So it's illegal for Russia to pay podcasters/influencers to say things but it's fine for a presidential campaign to do the same?
Yep, where's the investigation into the dnc, the biden administration, the msm, big tech and the fbi? What about China, Iran and the any number of countries that do the same? These influences are mammothly greater than Russia, but Russia is the lefts boogie man.
hedge
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johnnyblaze36 said:

hedge said:

Hard to take a 40 year old man who wears a beanie religiously seriously
There's a spin-off joke to be had here but I'm not going to make it.
I want to hear it
 
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