[9] TheSoul Publishing was launched by web developers Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, who are Cyprus-based Russian nationals,[6] in the Cypriot city of Limassol in 2016.
[20] In September, the company published a video launching its virtual YouTuber musician character Polar,[21] which received over 3 million views by December.
[27] In the same month, TheSoul Publishing partnered with Kidoodle.TV to bring 5-Minute Crafts, Baby Zoo, and Slick Slime Sam to Kidoodle in both English and Spanish.
[36] However, the article also stated, "To answer the implicit question, unlike many viral Facebook posts that came out of Russia over the past few years, TheSoul Publishing's content does not appear to be overtly political.
"[36] In December 2019, the company's channel Smart Banana was criticized by Lawfare for making "history videos with a political tinge".
[14] One video falsely claimed that Ukraine is part of Russia, another gave a "heavily sanitized" summary of Joseph Stalin's reign and incorrectly claimed that Alaska was a gift from Russia to the United States, and a third video predicted that the United States would likely collapse within 20 years.
[14] The Lawfare article's claims were picked up by American political commentator Rachel Maddow, who likened the videos to Russia's interference in the 2016 United States elections.
[40][41] The channel, which had over 4 million subscribers, hosted cartoons of supposedly real events presented as firsthand experiences of American teenagers; the stories were often questioned.