Benny Johnson

Benny Johnson is a conservative media personality and video creator who has worked at multiple prominent outlets. In 2014, BuzzFeed terminated his employment after an internal review found 41 instances of plagiarism across his articles — he had copied text from Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers, and other sources without attribution. Johnson subsequently worked at the National Review, Independent Journal Review, and Turning Point USA, among others, before building a social media following as an independent creator.

In September 2024, a Department of Justice indictment revealed that Tenet Media, a digital media company that had paid Johnson to produce content, was secretly funded by employees of RT, the Russian state-owned television network. According to prosecutors, Russian operatives had channeled nearly ten million dollars through Tenet Media to pay American commentators to produce content aligned with Russian strategic interests, without disclosing the foreign funding source. Johnson was identified as a paid Tenet Media commentator.

Johnson stated publicly that he had no knowledge of the Russian funding and was himself a victim of the scheme. The DOJ's indictment did not charge the American commentators, focusing instead on the Russian nationals who allegedly organized and funded the operation. Johnson's claim that he was unaware of the funding source has not been independently verified or refuted. Critics noted that the payments Johnson received from Tenet Media were reported to be above standard market rates for political commentary, raising questions about whether the funding source should have prompted more scrutiny.

Johnson continues to produce conservative political content with a substantial social media following. His supporters argue the Tenet Media situation was an instance of being unwittingly used by a foreign operation, while critics point to his documented history of plagiarism and the foreign funding revelation as evidence of broader credibility concerns.