Russian Disinformation, a Langley Right-Wing Influencer and a BC Conservative

Conservative Party of BC executive director Angelo Isidorou said Friday his frequent social media replies to far-right influencer Lauren Southern do not indicate support for her views.

Southern, based in Langley, B.C., has drawn new attention after the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment last Wednesday alleging a YouTube channel called Tenet Media was funded by Russian operatives.

It alleges producers from state broadcaster RT, formerly Russia Today, paid the firm US$10 million to “create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” The allegations have not been tested in court.

Southern is featured in dozens of videos on the channel. She did not reply to requests for comment on her arrangement with Tenet Media.

In a response posted to X after publication of this story, Southern said she was not aware of the allegations in the indictment, has not been charged with any crime and believes she's done nothing wrong. She said she always had full editorial control over the videos she made, and added she was not paid as much as some of the other content creators were allegedly paid.

Two other contributors to Tenet Media have said they were deceived by the creators of the YouTube channel and did not know it was Russian-funded. One of the contributors, Dave Rubin, said he believes that all six of the contributors to Tenet Media were deceived.

According to the indictment, one of the contributors described in the court document was paid $100,000 per video, while the other was paid a monthly fee of $400,000 plus a signing bonus of $100,000.

Even before the allegations of Russian influence, Southern was controversial, accused of producing anti-immigration and Islamophobic content.

In 2017, Southern and several other far-right activists were detained by the Italian coast guard for attempting to stop a humanitarian ship from helping refugees. In 2018, she was barred from entering the United Kingdom because of her anti-Islam activism.

Isidorou frequently replied to Southern’s posts on X. His most recent reply was posted on April 24, to a now-deleted post from Southern. It said, “10/10 Wholesome.” The posts were first sent to The Tyee by BC United, which until recently was a competitor to the BC Conservatives. The Tyee has independently verified the reply posts.

When asked for comment on his past interactions with Southern, Isidorou responded on X, offering his response and attacking The Tyee.

“Southern, like many controversial public figures, has a wide-reaching presence on social media. Interaction does not equate to endorsement, and suggesting otherwise is a lazy guilt-by-association tactic that’s more fitting for a tabloid than serious journalism,” Isidorou said in his X post.

“In the past decade, I’ve responded to literally thousands of people on Twitter, many of whom I do not agree with on almost anything let alone everything.”

As a University of British Columbia student and a member of the campus Free Speech Club, Isidorou was involved with inviting Southern and far-right personality Stefan Molyneux to speak at an event in Vancouver in 2019.

It was cancelled after critics accused the organizers of “inviting speakers who espouse white nationalism.” Both Southern and Molyneux have told media they do not consider themselves to be white nationalists.

Isidorou’s replies to Southern span from 2016 to 2024 and range from parenting advice to comments about the “mainstream media” lying about Donald Trump to commenting about Airbnb in response to Southern’s post about her parents being banned from the short-term rental service because of their association with her.

On June 8, 2023, Isidorou replied to a post in which Southern had described being “under extreme scrutiny from multiple governments” because of her anti-immigration, anti-Islam activities and the toll that had taken on her personal life.

In his reply, Isidorou relates that he’s also struggled with the death of his father and found solace by reading the Bible. He also says that he’s been watching her content for years and, in the few times they’ve met in person, has found her to be kind and generous. He says she’s encountered “unjust persecution” and says, “History is often written by the suffering and martyred.”

Isidorou has repeatedly denied that he holds or agreed with racist views.

Isidorou said the U.S. indictment “is just another baseless attempt to discredit individuals by association.”

“The fact that The Tyee and other media aligned with David Eby are more focused on a U.S. DOJ indictment that has nothing to do with B.C.’s pressing issues tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.... That being said. Anyone who is caught illegally taking money from a foreign state to promote their agenda is a traitor and should be treated as such.”

The Tyee is not aligned with the NDP or any other political party.

Canadian connections to alleged Russian scheme

The indictment charges two Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, with money laundering and conspiracy to violate the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment alleges that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva funnelled nearly $10 million to a newly created media company in order to influence the perception of events like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While neither the company name nor the names of the founders of Tenet Media are included in the indictment, news organizations have reported that the description in the court document matches Tenet Media’s self-description: “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.”

The Tennessean reported that according to Tennessee business records, Liam Donovan is the registered agent of Tenet Media.

On social media, Donovan identifies himself as the president of Tenet Media. Donovan is married to Lauren Chen, a far-right YouTuber who previously posted under the handle Roaming Millennial.

In the indictment, “Founder-1” and “Founder-2” are identified as “foreign nationals.” Chen and Donovan also own a Canadian company called Roaming Millennial Inc., which has an address in Hudson, Quebec. (Chen’s name on that business registry is listed as Lauren Yu Sum Tam.)

Social media posts said that Chen would host the June We Unify Reclaiming Canada conference in Victoria and promoted an appearance with Chen and Southern. However, according to the final speaker poster posted by the conference, Chen was not included in the final conference lineup.

Speakers at the conference included Southern, “Freedom Convoy” organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber and Alberta anti-vax pastor Artur Pawlowski.

Media reported BC Conservative candidate John Koury attended the We Unify conference.

The Tyee reached out to Chen through her Facebook and Instagram pages for comment for this story but did not receive a response.

Southern created several videos that appear on Tenet Media.

In a video clip posted to Tenet Media’s TikTok account on July 28, she said that “Muslims and leftists are rioting in Rochdale” and described a “grooming scandal” where “thousands of young girls were targeted by Muslim men.” Rochdale, U.K., was the scene of far-right riots after the murder of three girls at a dance class.

In a 13-minute video posted to Tenet Media’s YouTube page on May 13 that focused on immigration in Ireland, Southern said “Irish people will disappear” and warned that Irish people “will be replaced” by immigrants.

Along with the five other content creators who participated in delivering content for Tenet Media, Southern is featured in several promotional videos created for the launch of the channel.

She appears to have socialized with Chen. In an Instagram post from 2021, Chen poses in a photo on a boat, saying in the caption that Southern played tour guide to Chen and took her fishing during a trip to British Columbia.

According to a 2020 profile in The Atlantic magazine, Southern travelled to Russia in 2018, “where she’d planned to interview oligarchs, Kremlin sycophants, and other far-right influencers for a documentary she hoped would be a corrective to what she saw as America’s irrational fear of Russia.”

In Russia Southern interviewed Alexander Dugin, a Russian ultra-nationalist philosopher who has advocated for war against Ukraine. In one video interview, Dugin warns Southern and co-host Brittany Pettibone that the "first replacement" of the "traditional population" by "refugees and immigrants" has already occurred; he warns the next replacement will be by robots and artificial intelligence.