The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a tough plan to try to curb Russian manipulation of the 2024 election, imposing sanctions, seizing internet domains used to spread disinformation and unveiling criminal charges.
Its goal is to prevent the Kremlin from using state media and fake news sites to influence American voters.
White House spokesman John Kirby said the plot extended all the way to President Vladimir Putin.
“We believe Mr. Putin is acting consciously,” he told reporters at the White House.
Other departments took action at the same time.
The Biden administration took steps Wednesday to curb a Russian influence campaign targeting the November election. The White House said the plot reached back to Vladimir Putin.
The Justice Department has filed money laundering charges against two employees of the Russian state-run media channel RT.
He said they used fake companies and personas to pay $10 million to a corporation in Tennessee to produce videos designed to stoke political divisions.
The FBI seized 32 Internet domains it said were being used in an influence effort.
The US Treasury and State Departments have also imposed sanctions on RT, including on the network’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan.
“RT is no longer just a propaganda arm of the Kremlin,” Kirby said. “It is being used to promote covert Russian influence actions.
‘In addition, the Russian government is laundering influence and conducting information operations through Kremlin-controlled commercial companies, such as the Social Design Agency, which works largely under the direction and control of the Russian Federation.
‘All of this activity was designed to channel disinformation through outlets and social media influencers that a certain number of Americans view as credible.’
The US company allegedly involved in the scheme is said to be Tennessee-based Tenet Media, which hired several influential insiders.
Benny Johnson, a conservative commentator who runs Benny Media LLC, confirmed he had a contract with the company but said he was a “victim” of the alleged scheme.
“A year ago, a media startup approached my company about providing content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard agreement, without any form of agreement, which was later terminated,” he wrote on X.
“We are concerned by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that I and other influencers were victims of this alleged plot. My attorneys will pursue anyone who claims or suggests otherwise.”
Others who have also been reportedly involved with Tenet Media include Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Lauren Southern.
“We believe Mr. Putin is acting knowingly,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby urged Americans to be careful about where they get their news as governments around the world grapple with the power of online communications coupled with artificial intelligence.
US intelligence agencies believe Putin tried to tip the balance in Donald Trump’s favour in 2016, with Russian-backed leaks of Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails, and again in 2020.
Broadcast vans of Russian state television Russia Today (RT) are seen parked in front of St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin, next to Red Square in Moscow.
RT employees work in their international studio on December 6, 2019 in Moscow, Russia
This time, Iran is believed to have been behind a recent hack of the Trump campaign.
Justice Department officials say Putin and his proxies are now targeting specific groups of voters in battleground states and using bots and artificial intelligence to stoke division.
“Today’s announcement highlights the lengths to which some foreign governments will go to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said.
“But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate malign foreign actors intentionally interfering in and undermining free and fair elections.”