The Justice Department seized 32 websites and charged two Russian state media employees Wednesday in a Kremlin-backed campaign to influence voters in the U.S. presidential election by exploiting societal and political divisions — and by criticizing the competency of the U.S. military.
The Russian government used the websites to spread propaganda in an effort to bolster its interests, reduce international support for Ukraine and influence voters in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, as well as in other foreign elections, the Justice Department alleged in an affidavit. Russian actors tried to stir anti-military sentiments, among other tactics, the affidavit says.
Some of the websites were designed to mimic authentic news outlets, such as The Washington Post and Fox News, by publishing fake articles under copied logos and the names of real journalists, the Justice Department said. In other instances, the perpetrators created unique media brands to push propaganda.
One of those brands was Warfareinsider, which describes itself as reporting on the “latest military news,” the Justice Department alleged. A summary of the site states, “Stay sharp to look at it from the different perspective.” On Thursday, the web address led to a page with a large red banner reading, “This website has been seized.”
The Justice Department’s actions follow months of warnings from private technology companies and disinformation experts about the threats Russia and other countries pose to the November election. The affidavit released Wednesday included one exhibit from the cybersecurity company Recorded Future, which published a report in December saying Russian campaigns “aimed to exploit societal and political divisions ahead of the 2024 U.S. election, fueling anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, criticizing U.S. military competence and amplifying political divisions around U.S. support for Ukraine.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday the U.S. government “will be aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by the Russian government, or any other malign actor, to interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy.”
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“As alleged in our court filings, President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including Sergei Kiriyenko, directed Russian public relations companies to promote disinformation and state-sponsored narratives as part of a campaign to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election,” Garland said. “An internal planning document created by the Kremlin states that a goal of the campaign is to secure Russia’s preferred outcome in the election.”
The Justice Department did not identify which candidate Russia sought to boost, and it redacted the names of political parties in the Russian planning documents released Wednesday, labeling them as “U.S. Political Party A” and “U.S. Political Party B.” However, the Russian documents make clear that the Kremlin favors former President Donald Trump, seeing him as skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine. For instance, the documents describe “Political Party B” as being “left-wing” and currently holding power, and “Political Party A” as conservative.
“It makes sense for Russia to put a maximum effort to ensure that the ‘U.S. Political Party A’ point of view (first and foremost, the opinion of ‘Candidate A’ supporters) wins over the U.S. public opinion,” one Kremlin planning document states. “This includes provisions on peace in Ukraine in exchange for territories, the need to focus on the problems of the U.S. economy, returning troops home from all over the world, etc.”
One of the Kremlin documents listed their targets for pro-Russia messaging, including voters in swing states and conservative states, U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent, Jewish individuals, white individuals and gamers who occupy right-wing segments of the internet like 4chan.
Russia proposed using Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X and Reddit to spread their messages, describing those sites in the documents as being “free from democratic censorship.” The planning documents advised operators of the fake news sites to sow division by spreading certain narratives, including the “risk of job loss for white Americans,” “privileges for people of color,” “the threat of crime from people of color and immigrants” and “overspending on foreign policy,” among other topics.
At the same time it announced the seizure of the 32 websites, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against two employees of RT, a Russian government-controlled media outlet. They were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people who work on behalf of foreign entities in the U.S. to register with the Justice Department.
The department alleges the employees paid about $10 million to a Tennessee-based content creation company to make social media videos that bolstered Russia’s interests.
The company posted about 2,000 videos since November 2023 on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X, and it garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube alone. The content of the videos includes discussion about immigration, inflation and other issues meant to amplify divisions within the United States, the Justice Department said.
The Justice Department didn’t name the company, but The Associated Press and other media outlets identified it Wednesday as Tenet Media, which hired six right-wing influencers who boast millions of subscribers on YouTube and X. Those influencers include Lauren Southern, Tim Pool, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson. One influencer was paid a monthly fee of $400,000, plus a $100,000 signing bonus and additional performance bonuses, the indictment says.
The aim of the RT employees was to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming and sharing Russian propaganda, FBI Director Christopher Wray said. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen described the scheme as psychological warfare.
The Justice Department’s actions Wednesday follow sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department in March against two Russian marketing and communications companies that created fake social media accounts and websites to spread Kremlin-approved disinformation. One of those firms, Social Design Agency, monitored and collected information about social media influencers in order to analyze trends in public opinion and gauge the effectiveness of their disinformation campaigns. The list of influencers included veterans, the Justice Department said.
This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.
Nikki Wentling covers disinformation and extremism for Military Times. She's reported on veterans and military communities for eight years and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
