FLASHBACK: Billionaires bribed influencers to spread J6 propaganda

President Donald Trump on Monday issued pardons for roughly 1,500 January 6th hostages who were persecuted by the Biden administration, including many who were imprisoned and tortured.

While the federal government used the pretext of January 6th to weaponize its agencies and media allies against Trump supporters, there were also private organizations funding January 6th propaganda.

In 2022, popular influencer and attorney Preston Moore said he was approached by an organization offering to pay him to peddle disinformation about President Trump and January 6th. The Good Information Foundation, dedicated to “fighting disinformation” and funded by billionaires like George Soros and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, offered Moore $400 to post a video about January 6th using specific phrases and disinformation.

Call this an ‘attack on our country’

“I should start out this video by saying I am not a Donald Trump supporter so that should give a little bit of context to where I’m coming from,” began Moore, after saying the propaganda about Trump and January 6th is “completely not true.” 

Moore showed a screenshot of a message sent to him by a representative of the organization, whose name was redacted. 

“Would you be interested in creating 1 tiktok video and reposting it?” the representative wrote. “I’ve included a link to the creative brief below which should give you a pretty good understanding of the kind of content we are looking for. If you have any questions and [sic] look forward to hearing from you!” 

Moore, who refers to the individual as “Jane”, said she offered him $400 to create a post and share it on Instagram. He then shared screenshots of the page he was taken to after clicking on the link provided in the message.

The screenshot showed specific instructions on what language and messaging to use: 

• “Say ‘criminal conspiracy’ not ‘attempted coup’, ‘treason’ or ‘insurrection.’ 
• Say ‘Trump Republicans’, not ‘Trump and his allies.’ 
• Say ‘January 6 investigation’, not ‘hearing’ or ‘trial.’ 
• Call this an ‘attack on our country’ or an attack on ‘America’ or on ‘Americans’ and a ‘criminal conspiracy,’ ‘committed crime.’ 
• Talk about ‘MAGA Republicans’ etc. 
• Make clear this is ongoing and unresolved, not past and done. 
• Show voter agency, turn the anger into defiance.” 

Another screenshot urged influencers to “Remind your followers about the images and scenes from the January 6th insurrection,” and offered a helpful example: 

“You probably saw this [greenscreen of Jan 6th violence] happen but what a lot of people don’t know is that the violence on January 6 was actually planned and paid for by Trump Republicans.” 

“Talk about the many aspects of their plan and the broad involvement of Trump officials, members of Congress [redacted],” continued the document. 

“It’s important to know that this wasn’t a one day thing—there is an ongoing threat of political violence or MAGA Republicans trying to overturn elections,” read another point. 

Moore said his curiosity was piqued by another recommended messaging point, which stated that “The Trump campaign paid literally millions of dollars to make January 6th happen.” 

“So I figured, you know, maybe I missed something,” says Moore in the video. The Harvard Law alum decided to reach out to the Good Info Foundation operative. 

“[W]hat is the basis for the claim that the Trump campaign itself paid millions of dollars to make the January 6 seat at the Capitol happen?” Moore wrote. 

The operative evaded the question, replying, “Hi Preston! If you don’t want to state that in the video it’s fine, you don’t have to use all the bullet points provided.” 

But Moore pressed on. 

“Sure, I am just wondering if there is support for that claim.” 

The operative again avoided answering the question, this time frostier. 

“Let me know if you’re interested and if the rate works for you, thanks so much!” 

“I’m not interested and the rate doesn’t work for me,” Moore said to the camera.  

As part of its “Civic News Initiative,” the Good Info Foundation says it "will fund and organize a network of local and niche media properties, freelance reporters, editors and social content producers to distribute factual, values-driven news and content to the communities in which they live that effectively counter and dilute the impact of disinformation.  

“The Foundation will compensate publishers and freelancers and influencers to publish their original reporting online and offer the content free of charge to any global, national, state or local news organizations looking to bolster their reporting capacity and coverage within those communities and geographies.” 

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