YouTube Will Close Media Tenet Channels Linked To Russian Media

JAKARTA YouTube announced that it would remove some of its far-right political channels. This channel relates to allegations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding money laundering schemes.

There are five channels to be removed, namely Tenet Media and four channels operated by Lauren Chen, the owner of Tenet. YouTube, citing from the Washington Post, said that these five channels needed to be stopped as, "an ongoing effort by the company to combat coordinated influence operations."

On September 4, DOJ filed a money laundering charge against two Russian Today (RT) employees, a Russian state media network. These two employees are accused of illegally funding media organizations in Tennessee.

According to officials, this action is not only an effort to launder money, but also an attempt to produce online content to influence the 2024 US elections. The two employees also used shell companies to pay 10 million US dollars (IDR 153 billion) to the media company in Tennessee.

The fund reinforces allegations that Tennessee-based media are being asked to produce online videos that could strengthen political divisions in the US. When the indictment was made, DOJ never named the media company.

However, the details in the court file are very suitable for Tenet Media, a channel that YouTube will close. In the file, it says that companies relating to two employees of RT based in Nashville and have uploaded more than 2,000 videos to YouTube in less than a year.

This description is very similar to Tenet Media, plus YouTube is the main platform for the media company. Tenet Media is quite popular among conservative figures. Until now, Tenet Media has not provided a statement regarding the DOJ indictment and efforts to close channels from YouTube.