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Recruitment boss accused of running doxxing campaign against RNLI and activists

Tom Watson, a recruitment firm owner from Worcester, has been accused of running an X account that doxxed RNLI staff, anti-racism activists and executives hiring minority ethnic workers. The account was deactivated after Hope Not Hate named him.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-10 17:10

The Guardian reported that the account had almost 50,000 followers and had become increasingly prominent in recent weeks as RNLI staff faced online harassment and attacks. Far-right activists targeted the charity over its involvement in rescuing people trying to cross the Channel in small boats.

The account, which The Guardian said had a history of racist comments, appeared to use AI to scrape data from LinkedIn and other sites to build what it called a “Traitorbase.” It was removed almost immediately after Hope Not Hate alleged Watson was behind it and after The Guardian approached him for comment.

Like posts on Watson’s LinkedIn account, the X account frequently praised hard-right MP Rupert Lowe, according to The Guardian. It also claimed to have donated £2,500 to Lowe’s Restore Britain party and joined its “Cromwell Club” for activists who pay a certain level of donation.

Targets described the impact. Chantelle Lunt, a Green party councillor in Merseyside who has already been targeted by the far right, told The Guardian she made a police report after details about her were published online by the account. She said someone told her she had been doxxed and when she looked she saw details about her on a spreadsheet that included reference to other people involved in Stand Up to Racism. “The climate at the moment is horrendous and I’m no stranger to people targeting me and my family, but there’s a big concern when this information is actively put out there,” she said. “You can see people engaging with it and actively encouraging each other.”

A spokesperson for a charity that was targeted told The Guardian the campaign was “another example of a cynical attempt to spread misinformation that has unfortunately gone unchecked on social media platforms.” The spokesperson said it was an attempt to sow discord and division among communities and prevent organisations trying to help the most vulnerable communities in the country from operating at their full potential. They added that time spent combating misinformation and bigotry distracted from programme work in the UK and that social media companies, the media and politicians had a responsibility to clamp down on misinformation and the division it causes.

A number of businesses, big and small, were also doxxed on the account, which posted photographs and names of executives said to have been involved in hiring minority ethnic staff. A businessperson who was targeted described their doxxing as “bizarre.” “Thankfully it doesn’t seem to have led to any problems, but it’s not something that you expect to have to contend with,” they told The Guardian. “It’s a pretty unpleasant thing to do, especially if it’s someone who is involved in their own business.”

Watson, who is from Worcester, divides his time between the UK and the US and founded Futura Energy Group, which describes itself as “a specialist recruitment and build-with talent partner for companies operating across AI.” Archived online records show the Big Time Charlie account originally bore the name Tom Watson, The Guardian reported, while other evidence links him to it. That included regular references by the account to being in Puerto Rico, where Futura is based according to its LinkedIn account, and references to working in recruitment for technical roles.

The Big Time Charlie account posted on 20 July that they were in Zurich and shared a photo taken in the grounds of the Vitznauerhof hotel, according to The Guardian. Two days later, Watson posted on his LinkedIn profile that he was in Switzerland and shared another image taken from the Vitznauerhof hotel. Watson was approached for comment.

Editor's Summary The owner of a UK recruitment firm has been accused of running an anonymous X account that doxxed the RNLI, anti-racism activists and executives who hire minority ethnic staff. The account was deactivated after Hope Not Hate named Tom Watson, and targets reported online harassment and police complaints. Watson was approached for comment.