Yeah but why are we supposed to care though? I don't watch ecelebs, but what exactly is so bad about someone getting money from a foreign state TV broadcaster - which was interchangeable with any other scummy state broadcaster on the globe up until the gay slavic proxy war happened and now it's verboten - to say apparently sensible things that anyone could realise on their own anyway. If there are people out there who genuinely need Lauren Chen to help them reach obvious conclusions, and if Lauren Chen genuinely needs foreign money and scripts to put those perspectives out, then that money is practically charity. I don't give a fuck.
The larger picture is that this is just a flex for western governments to start threatening influencers with the law if they don't parrot CurrentThing. There are so many unfriendly foreign parties investing in everything that it's trivial to start retroactively painting anybody you want to as an agent. When will it apply to Tencent money? I'm certain it won't apply to anyone getting money from Israel any time soon, anyway.
Foreign agents are supposed to register with the DOJ if they are engaging in domestic lobbying or advocacy. They also said that the Russians were money laundering. She wasn't charged with anything.
"I think Chen might be an agent..."
"IDK, I don't think Chen is an agent!"
Yeah but why are we supposed to care though? I don't watch ecelebs, but what exactly is so bad about someone getting money from a foreign state TV broadcaster - which was interchangeable with any other scummy state broadcaster on the globe up until the gay slavic proxy war happened and now it's verboten - to say apparently sensible things that anyone could realise on their own anyway. If there are people out there who genuinely need Lauren Chen to help them reach obvious conclusions, and if Lauren Chen genuinely needs foreign money and scripts to put those perspectives out, then that money is practically charity. I don't give a fuck.
The larger picture is that this is just a flex for western governments to start threatening influencers with the law if they don't parrot CurrentThing. There are so many unfriendly foreign parties investing in everything that it's trivial to start retroactively painting anybody you want to as an agent. When will it apply to Tencent money? I'm certain it won't apply to anyone getting money from Israel any time soon, anyway.
Foreign agents are supposed to register with the DOJ if they are engaging in domestic lobbying or advocacy. They also said that the Russians were money laundering. She wasn't charged with anything.