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How Lauren Chen went from ‘alt-lite’ YouTuber to alleged Russian asset

NBC News
Summary
Nutrition label

72% Informative

Lauren Chen , co-owner of Tenet Media , an online collective of pro-Trump creators, is accused of working for the Russian state media operation RT.

She allegedly negotiated a series of lucrative deals with the high-profile influencers to pump out online videos.

Chen gained a following by bridging some of the internet’s most noxious far-right voices to more mainstream conservative creators.

The indictment alleges Russian government paid “Founder-1” Chen to create and publish 200 videos to her personal YouTube channel without disclosing the sponsorship.

By 2019 , Chen had more than 400,000 subscribers and 45 million views on YouTube as an alt-lite” creator.

Chen 's positions on Ukraine and Israel seem likely to have cost her former mainstream conservative support.

VR Score

66

Informative language

58

Neutral language

46

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

62

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

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