The Guardian
· collected 2026-10-10 · by Ben Quinn Political correspondent
Tom Watson, owner of a recruitment firm in Worcester, has been accused by the campaign group Hope Not Hate of running an X account known as “Big Time Charlie.” This account allegedly engaged in doxxing campaigns against the RNLI and anti-racism activists. With nearly 50,000 followers, it used AI to gather personal information from LinkedIn to create a database targeting those involved in helping refugees and hiring minority workers. Watson’s LinkedIn activity aligned with posts praising far-right figures, including claims of donating £2,500 to the Restore Britain party. Targets like Green Party councillor Chantelle Lunt reported harassment and fear for their safety after being doxxed by this account.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Tom Watson, a recruitment firm owner from Worcester, is accused of orchestrating a "doxxing" campaign against the RNLI, anti-racism activists, and business executives who recruit black, Asian, and minority ethnic workers. The account, known as “Big Time Charlie,” had almost 50,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) and became prominent recently as RNLI staff faced online harassment from far-right activists targeting them for rescuing people crossing the Channel in small boats. Watson's LinkedIn account praised the hard-right MP Rupert Lowe, similar to posts made by Big Time Charlie. The campaign allegedly used AI tools to scrape data from LinkedIn and other platforms to create a so-called "Traitorbase." Hope Not Hate identified Watson as the owner of the X account, which was deactivated shortly after the allegations surfaced.
Written for “Doxxing Campaign Accusations” on 2026-10-10,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.45, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 70071: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-10
The owner of a recruitment firm has been accused of being at the centre of a so-called “doxxing” campaign against the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), anti-racism activists and business executives who recruit black, Asian and minority ethnic workers.
asserted
who → accuse → workers
Tom Watson, from Worcester, is alleged to be behind an X account calling itself “Big Time Charlie”, which was deactivated shortly after he was named by the campaign group Hope Not Hate.
asserted
he → allege → group
The account had almost 50,000 followers and had become increasingly prominent in recent weeks as RNLI staff found themselves being harassed and attacked online as far-right activists targeted them over their involvement in rescuing people trying to cross the Channel in small boats.
asserted
activists → have → boats
The account, which has a history of racist comments, appears to have been using AI to scrape data from LinkedIn and other sites to build a so-called Traitorbase.
asserted
which → have → Traitorbase
The Big Time Charlie account was removed almost immediately after Hope Not Hate alleged that Watson was behind it, and after the Guardian approached him for comment.
asserted
Guardian → remove → comment
Like the posts on Watson’s LinkedIn account, the X account has frequently praised the hard-right MP Rupert Lowe.
asserted
account → praise → MP
It also claimed to have donated £2,500 to Lowe’s Restore Britain party and joined its “Cromwell Club” for those activists who pay a certain level of donation.
asserted
who → claim → donation
Targets of doxxing by the Big Time Charlie account told the Guardian of the impact.
asserted
Targets → tell → impact
They included Chantelle Lunt, a Green party councillor in Merseyside who has already been targeted by the far right, and who made a report to the police after details about her were published online by the account.
asserted
details → include → account
She said: “Someone told me that I had been doxxed and when I went to look I saw that details about me appeared to be on a spreadsheet which included reference to other people who were involved in Stand Up to Racism.
asserted
who → say → Racism
“The climate at the moment is horrendous and I’m no stranger to people targeting me and my family,
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I → ’m → me
there’s a big concern when this information is actively put out there.
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information → ’ → ?
You can see people engaging with it and actively encouraging each other.”
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people → see → other
A spokesperson for a charity that was targeted told the Guardian: “This is another example of a cynical attempt to spread misinformation that has unfortunately gone unchecked on social media platforms.
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that → target → platforms
“This is an attempt to sow discord and division among communities and prevent organisations trying to help the most vulnerable communities in this country from operating at their full potential.
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This → sow → potential
“Time spent combating misinformation and bigotry is a distraction from these organisations’ programme work here at home, which actually makes a difference in the ordinary lives of people in the UK.
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which → spend → UK
Social media companies, the media and politicians have a responsibility to clamp down on misinformation and the division it causes.”
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it → have → misinformation
A number of businesses, big and small, were also doxxed on the account, which posted the photographs and names of executives who were said to have been involved in hiring minority ethnic staff.
asserted
who → doxxe → staff
A businessperson who was also targeted described their doxxing by the account as “bizarre”.
asserted
who → target → account
“Thankfully it doesn’t seem to have led to any problems, but it’s not something that you expect to have to contend with.
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you → seem → that
It’s a pretty unpleasant thing to do, especially if it’s someone who is involved in their own business,” they added.
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they → ’ → business
Watson divides his time between the UK and US and founded the recruitment firm Futura Energy Group, which describes itself as “a specialist recruitment and build-with talent partner for companies operating across AI”.
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which → divide → AI
Archived online records show that the Big Time Charlie account originally bore the name Tom Watson, while a range of other evidence links him to it.
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range → show → 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.
uncertain
Futura → include → 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.
asserted
they → post → hotel
Two days later, Watson posted on his LinkedIn profile that he was in Switzerland and shared another image taken from the Vitznauerhof hotel.
asserted
he → post → hotel
Watson was approached for comment.
asserted
Watson → approach → comment
The Aporia
