Recruitment firm owner accused of running doxxing campaign against RNLI and anti-racism activists
UK campaign group Hope Not Hate has accused Worcester businessman Tom Watson of being behind the X account “Big Time Charlie”, which published people’s personal details. The account was deactivated after he was named.
The owner of a recruitment firm, Tom Watson from Worcester, has been accused of being behind a so-called doxxing campaign, in which personal details were published online. The targets were the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the UK sea rescue charity, as well as anti-racism activists and business executives who hire black, Asian and minority ethnic workers. The allegation comes from the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate.
An account with nearly 50,000 followers
According to the group, Watson is behind the X account “Big Time Charlie”. It had almost 50,000 followers and became more prominent in recent weeks, as RNLI staff were harassed and attacked online. Far-right activists targeted them over their role in rescuing people trying to cross the English Channel in small boats. The account, which has a history of racist comments, appears to have used AI to scrape data from LinkedIn and other sites to build a so-called “Traitorbase”.
The account was removed almost immediately after Hope Not Hate made its allegation and after the Guardian approached Watson for comment. Both the account and Watson’s LinkedIn posts have often praised the hard-right MP Rupert Lowe. The account also claimed to have donated £2,500 to Lowe’s party, Restore Britain.
Accounts from those targeted
Chantelle Lunt, a Green party councillor in Merseyside, went to the police after details about her were published. She said she was told she had been doxxed and found a spreadsheet that included other people involved in Stand Up to Racism. She voiced concern about people engaging with the information and encouraging one another. A charity that was targeted called the episode an attempt to spread misinformation, and a businessperson described being doxxed as “bizarre”.
Links to Watson
Watson divides his time between the UK and US and founded the recruitment firm Futura Energy Group. Archived records show the account originally bore the name Tom Watson. It also referred to being in Puerto Rico, where Futura is based according to LinkedIn, and to working in technical recruitment. The account posted on 20 July that it was in Zurich, with a photo from the Vitznauerhof hotel. Two days later Watson posted on LinkedIn that he was in Switzerland, with an image from the same hotel. Watson was approached for comment.
