Meme of the Day

YouTube terminated several right-wing channels linked to accusations made by federal authorities who allege the right-wing media company that owned the channels was being bankrolled by the Russian government to create divisive and politically-motivated content.

Following a Justice Department indictment and careful review, the Google-owned video platform announced the termination of “the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by its owner Lauren Chen as part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations,” a YouTube spokesperson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement Friday.

YouTube’s decision comes after the unsealing of an indictment Wednesday accusing Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena, of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“The Justice Department has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a Justice Department news release. “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.”

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2024/09/06/tenet-media-youtube/75102665007/