← Incidents
ClosedSeverity: High
Russian Funding of US and Canadian Political Influencers
Declared
September 9, 2024
Closed
December 9, 2024
Duration
91 days
updates
5
The US Department of Justice indicted two Russian nationals on September 4, 2024, for funding Tenet Media — a network controlled by Canadian influencer Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan. They allegedly accepted nearly $10 million USD from Russian state media outlet RT to spread Kremlin propaganda. The network posted over 2,000 videos on YouTube accumulating 16+ million views. CDMRN tracked across 8 updates and a final debrief.
Timeline
The Tenet Media case is among the most significant documented instances of Russian state funding flowing into the Canadian information ecosystem. Over three months of tracking, CDMRN identified: the Canadian political content footprint of the operation (400+ videos); the amplification pathways through mainstream Canadian right-wing media; and the inadequate regulatory and platform response.