Tim Pool and Benny Johnson addressed allegations that a company they were associated with had been paid to publish videos with messages in favour of Russia
A number of high-profile, conservative influencers in the US have said they are “victims” of an alleged Russian disinformation campaign, after the Biden administration accused Moscow of carrying out a sustained campaign to influence the outcome of November’s presidential elections.
Tim Pool and Benny Johnson published statements on Wednesday evening addressing allegations that a US content creation company they were associated with had been provided with nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to publish videos with messages in favour of Moscow’s interests and agenda, including over the war in Ukraine.
Just remember this : when Mitt Romney called Russia our greatest threat in 2012 the GOP rushed to his defense. A decade later they were openly admiring Putin.
Not even a decade later , within 4-6 they were politically fellating Putin because Donny dipshit has controlled the party since ~2015/6, and he's been under Russian influence for much longer, if not from the government, then from the Russian mob (I know, I'm repeating myself).
The Russian influence campaign that just started, and hasn't been running since before the 2016 election? These same influencers assure me that the allegations of Russian influence are just liberal media bullshit, and these Russian influenced people wouldn't lie about Russian influence, would they?
One should add, they were willing victims of that campaign. We all remember what kind of senseless dribble they amplified that could have been discarded as false after a simple google search.
Better than prison. These people could be in big trouble... But they won't be because of their political views. They will get slaps on the wrist and allowed back to continue their campaigns of stochastic terrorism.
Yeah, Russia is funding all sorts of critics of the US government, some of them on the left too. Doesn't necessarily mean they agree with Russia on everything. When RT was still allowed to broadcast in the US, people like Chris Hedges had a show on there.
Honestly, I don't see how this indictment squares with the first amendment, especially after citizens united. If money is speech, what's the difference between some American billionaire funding some guys that say things they agree with, and a foreign government/billionaire doing the same? If they're banning Russian funding, why not ban Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, the BBC, etc?
It must be so easy at this point… Russia can start a rumour and then get American pundits to authoritatively go along with it because it reinforces what they want to believe.
Probably just paying them to stay on message about Ukraine and stop rambling about random culture war issues like alleged elementary school litter boxes.