WASHINGTON — A U.S. Department of Justice indictment concerning an alleged Russia-funded propaganda operation has raised questions about a right-wing YouTuber who posted conspiracy content calling for the eradication of porn and the imprisonment of Pornhub execs.
One of the founders of a site targeted by federal authorities as a Russian propaganda effort is influencer Lauren Chen, who has posted videos describing Pornhub a source of “pedophilia.” Chen has also called for a porn ban, among other conservative messaging centered around a supposed “culture war.”
Chen’s videos even included a banner declaring that “Pornhub is pure evil.”
Last year, Chen publicized the controversial hidden camera videos of self-described journalist Arden Young, stating that “Pornhub execs belong in prison.”
In December, Chen promoted a conspiracy theory, popular with Christian Nationalists, that Pornhub is supposedly “trying to get straight men into gay and trans porn.”
On Wednesday, the DoJ indicted two RT — formerly Russia Today — employees for illegally operating conservative YouTube network Tenet Media from “behind the scenes,” the Washington Post reported. “Rather than being a domestic network of social media accounts, prosecutors allege that Tenet was a foreign influence operation funded with roughly $10 million in Russian money.”
Tenet Media was launched last year, founded by conservative influencer Chen and husband Liam Donovan. Its on-camera talent included popular social media commentator Tim Pool, and also Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin and Matt Christiansen.
The DoJ indictment “outlines how prosecutors say this money was sent overseas and shared among the conservative YouTubers through whom Russia sought to promote its agenda,” the Washington Post reported, adding that several of Tenet’s talent team “claim they did not know the money was coming from Russia.”
Prosecutors also allege that Chen and Donovan “knew their funding was coming from Moscow and privately acknowledged in messages to each other that their backers were Russian.”
Until the indictment was published, Chen also hosted two online shows on Glenn Beck’s Blaze Media.
On Thursday, YouTube announced it had “terminated” Tenet Media and four other channels linked to Chen, the Post reported.
As XBIZ reported, the Vladimir Putin government has increasingly criminalized sexual content in Russia as part of sweeping censorship efforts, although enforcement of anti-porn laws is highly discretional and often politically motivated.
All pornography is technically illegal in Russia, although a lot of adult content is overtly produced in the country, particularly posted on tube sites. Moreover, the depiction of LGBTQ+ sexual acts is also criminalized as part of extensive anti-sexual diversity legislation actively promoted by the Putin regime in the name of “Russian values.”