The U.S. stopped a recent Russian effort to manipulate Americans through fake news sites and conservative media.

From The Hill. The Biden administration on Wednesday condemned Russian efforts to influence the 2024 U.S. election as the Justice Department announced it seized 32 web domains the country has used for its covert campaigns.

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The action also targeted two employees of RT, formerly known as Russia Today, a Russian state media outlet with content available in English, charging the duo with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment accuses the two of partnering with a conservative-leaning media company to help sow division in the U.S. …

Deemed “Doppelganger,” the Russian effort employed a mix of creating sites with slightly different web addresses that mimic U.S. news outlets, including one appearing to be The Washington Post, and are plastered with pro-Russian narratives. It also created other media brands to funnel Russian content.

“As of noon today, we’ve seized those sites, rendered them inoperable, and made clear to the world what they are: Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and influence our society,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said as Justice Department officials convened an Election Threats Task Force meeting. …

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that “President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle” directed the influence campaign with the broader goals of drumming up support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “securing Russia’s preferred outcome in the election.” …

While neither officials nor the filings unsealed Wednesday named Russia’s preferred candidate, supporting exhibits included make clear support for former President Trump’s candidacy.

A dual-language internal planning document titled “The Good Ol USA Project,” shared by the Justice Department, stresses embrace of ending the war in Ukraine in exchange for Russia securing territories.

While the names of political parties and candidates are redacted, it points to Trump’s stance of being less involved in world affairs and says “It makes sense for Russia to put maximum effort into ensuring” Republicans and Trump supporters “win over the US public opinion.”

The indictment brought against the two RT employees, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyev, alleges they led a $10 million scheme to push a Tennessee-based company and its two directors to conceal Russian involvement as they published content designed to “amplify domestic divisions” on topics like immigration and inflation. …

In carrying out the influence campaign, the company contacted social media influencers unaware of the Russian connection, and some 2,000 videos pushed out by the effort garnered 16 million views on YouTube alone.

The indictment does not list the company RT used by name, but it appears to be Tenet Media, which describes itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” – the same description used in the indictment.

The indictment alleges that the founders of Tenet Media were aware of the Russian ties, and accues the the company of “deceiving” the two personalities it hired. Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin and Tim Pool are among those listed as talent on the company’s site. …

Pool on X addressed speculation he may have been involved, writing that “should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims.” …

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(Excerpt from The Hill. Photo Credit: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80565529)