How some of the biggest right-wing social media stars became unwitting mouthpieces of Russian propaganda

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/07/media/tenet-media-russia-rt-tim-pool-dave-rubin-lauren-chen/index.html 

The secret payments pull back the curtain on some of the most popular right-wing personalities, who were paid millions of dollars by the Kremlin, without their knowledge according to the Justice Department to promote conservative narratives that furthered Russian interests. And while the influencer, podcaster, and online content creator space is booming, the indictment shows how open the new media ecosystem is to infiltration, where independent creators operate with few guardrails and little transparency.