Prolific poster and world’s richest man Elon Musk frequently interacted on his social network X with right-wing influencers paid by a Russia-funded company.
Two employees of Russian state-controlled media operation RT allegedly funneled $10 million into Tennessee-based Tenet Media, with the goal of supporting Russian objectives, according to an unsealed indictment in the Southern District of New York, CNN reported.
The content company, which publishes videos about U.S. political issues on TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to the indictment, includes among its talent far-right influencers Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson. Elon Musk frequently socialized with all three on X. Together, the influencers have more than 6 million followers on their X accounts.
The indictment detailed how one social media star working for Tenet received $400,000 monthly plus a $100,000 signing bonus to make four videos a week. It’s unclear how much the three right wing influencers were paid by Tenet.
Pool, Rubin, and Johnson have all issued statements saying they were victims of the RT operation and had no knowledge of the Russia link with Tenet. Johnson added that he terminated a contract with Tenet. The influencers have not been accused of any wrongdoing and the indictment says the two RT employees concealed Tenet’s true funding source from its talent.
“Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical. Examples include discussing spirituality, dating, and video games,” said Pool of his show, The Culture War Podcast in a post.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk has long communicated with the three influencers on the social media platform. A count by Fortune found around 100 combined public interactions on X between Musk and the influencer trio mostly since 2022.
The billionaire Tesla CEO has emerged as a star of the U.S. political right. After buying X, formerly Twitter, in 2022, the self-titled “free speech absolutist” has loosened the network’s restrictions on what can be posted.
Musk has met resistance from governments seeking more control over social media content. Last week, the highest court in Brazil banned X after Musk refused to comply with orders to appoint a legal representative based in the country. Musk earlier closed X’s office in Brazil after the court asked the social media company to remove certain accounts it claimed were spreading misinformation.
Musk is also a big supporter of former president Donald Trump and allowed the Republican presidential nominee back on X shortly after buying the company. On Thursday, Trump said Musk agreed to lead a government efficiency commission in a potential second administration.
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