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Paul Joseph Watson

Credentials

Watson has said he “got kicked out of school”.¹

Background

Paul Joseph Watson is a British online commentator, conspiracy theorist, and writer. His political stance has been described by the New York Times as being part of the “New Far Right” with “civilizational, apocalyptic fixations”.² ³

Watson has a large online presence, including 1.1 million Twitter followers and a YouTube channel with over 450 million total views. He frequently comments on Islam, feminism, refugees, and free speech, among other current affairs.⁴ ⁵ ⁶

Watson has also described climate change as a “neo-feudal scam designed to enrich the elite, suppress the middle class and keep the poor mired in poverty”. He regularly criticises climate change activists, calling teenager Greta Thunberg a “fraud” and protest group Extinction Rebellion “one huge virtue signal”.⁷ ⁸ ⁹

Watson is believed to be the editor of Summit News, an online news site where articles are written under Watson’s byline and that of his brother, Steve Watson. Watson’s author page has over 1,000 article listings stemming back to March 2019 and the site has been reviewed by Media Bias Fact Check as a “questionable source” with an “Extreme Right-wing bias” with “misleading and unproven stories”.¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹² ¹³

Watson has also long been associated with Alex Jones, “the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America,” according to Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.¹⁴ ¹⁵

In 2002, at the age of 20, Watson began working for Jones’s Prison Planet project, part of a number of inter-connected conspiracy theory sites led by InfoWars, a far-right media outlet of which Watson is now the editor.¹⁶ ¹⁷

Since Watson started at InfoWars, the site has promoted conspiracy theories claiming that the U.S. government was developing a “weather weapon”, that Hilary Clinton was running a child sex ring, and that the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was an “inside job”.¹⁸

On his personal YouTube channel, Watson makes provocative videos, with titles including “The Islamic State of Sweden”, “The Truth About Migrants (2018)”, and “I Love My White Male Privilege!”. Watson has also hosted anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, in a video interview called “The Truth About the Koran”.¹⁹ ²⁰ ²¹ ²²

In June 2018, Watson announced that he had become a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), tweeting that he planned to take over in a “soft coup which will lead to the total restoration of freedom in the United Kingdom”. The party has a history of hosting members who have denied the existence of anthropogenic global warming.²³

In May 2019, Watson was banned from Facebook along with a number of other high-profile figures including Alex Jones and ex-Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos. In a statement, the social media company said: “we’ve always banned individuals or organisations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology”.²⁴

U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently tweeted how he was “surprised to see Conservative thinkers” like Watson banned from Facebook.²⁵

Speaking to the Daily Beast, Nick Ryan, of anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate, described Watson as “one of the most visible far-right figures on social media, part of the so-called ‘alternative right’ and a flag bearer for anti-Muslim and hard-right conspiracy theories.”²⁶

Stance on Climate Change

September 20, 2019

On Twitter, Watson wrote:²⁷

“Man-made global warming is an alarmist scam promoted by billionaire elitists, banks and giant corporations who are getting filthy rich off it while lecturing us about lowering our standard of living and keeping the third world mired in poverty.”²⁸

June 2, 2017

On Twitter, Watson wrote:²⁹

“The most hysterical, hyperbolic, alarmist, and downright wrong conspiracy theory over the last 30 years has been ‘man-made global warming’.”³⁰

2015 video on global warming

November 30, 2015

Watson uploaded a YouTube video called “‘Global Warming’ is a Crock of Sh*t” where he spoke of the “man-made climate change hoax”. In the clip, which had 750,000 views as of June 2020, Watson said:³¹

“Global leaders are gathering in Paris to save the world from the biggest threat humanity has ever faced, man-made climate change. Despite the fact that man-made climate change is a crock of shit, and human activity has virtually no impact on heating the planet.”³²

Watson went on to make a number of false claims in the video, detailed below.³³

On limiting global temperature increases:

“Corrupt agenda-driven scientists have been caught over and over again faking temperature data to fool everyone into thinking that global warming is real. The actual figures show there’s been no global warming since the late ‘90s. That means that every single one of these global conferences has been a completely pointless waste of time and money.”³⁴

However, NASA data shows that with the exception of 1998, “nineteen of the 20 warmest years all have occurred since 2001”.³⁵

On Arctic sea ice:

“Global warming alarmists have been proven spectacularly wrong time and time again. In 2007 and 2009, scientists said that the Arctic would have ice-free summers by 2013. By the summer of 2015, Arctic sea ice was the thickest it’s been in almost 10 years. Antarctic sea ice also hit a record maximum in 2014. NASA now admits that the polar ice caps are not melting.”³⁶

On its website, NASA says Arctic sea ice is declining at a rate of 12.85 percent per decade and sea ice reached its minimum level in 2012. Additionally, according to climate myth busting site Skeptical Science, “arctic sea ice loss is three times greater than Antarctic sea ice gain”.³⁷ ³⁸

On inland flooding:

“In 2003 the Pentagon released a report predicting that by 2013 climate change would flood California with inland seas and that parts of the Netherlands would be unliveable.”³⁹

The 2003 report by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall that Watson is referring to was intended to hypothesize a climate change scenario which “although not the most likely, is plausible”. The writers claim in the report’s abstract that its intention is to “imagine the unthinkable” and specifies that scientists who support the project “caution that the scenario depicted is extreme” and that the “magnitude of the event may be considerably smaller”.⁴⁰

On solar and wind power:

“Programmes to stop global climate change are also a complete waste of money and only serve to massively cripple economies. Solar power and wind are virtually useless. It takes three decades after installing solar panels just to get your money back. And wind turbines are even worse. They’re ridiculously expensive and in many cases emit more CO2 than they save.”⁴¹

Independent experts at the Energy Saving Trust estimate the payback for solar panels in many parts of the UK is likely to be closer to 20 years and can save households around £200-£300 per year.⁴²

On the terms ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’:

“Also note how these climate change alarmists move the goalposts every single time they’re discredited. First they called it global warming, and then when global warming stopped, they called it climate change.”⁴³

According to Skeptical Science, “there have long been claims that some unspecified ‘they’ has “changed the name from ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’”. In reality, the two terms mean different things, have both been used for decades.”⁴⁴

On weather:

“Extreme weather conditions are becoming less extreme.”⁴⁵

This is a false claim commonly used by climate science deniers. Carbon Brief mapped every extreme-weather attribution study published to date and found that “69% of the 355 extreme weather events and trends included in the map were found to be made more likely or more severe by human-caused climate change.”⁴⁶ ⁴⁷

On solar activity:

“Now as a result of decreased solar activity, you know, that giant flaming ball of fire that global warming alarmists say has nothing whatsoever to do with climate change, we’re actually about to enter a new mini ice age.”⁴⁸

As Skeptical Science reports, “cooling from the lowered solar output is estimated at around 0.1°C (with a maximum possible value of 0.3°C) while the greenhouse gas warming will be around 3.7°C to 4.5°C, depending on how much CO2 we emit throughout the 21st century”.⁴⁹

On biodiversity:

“Natural global warming actually produces a greener, more fruitful planet and increases the range and diversity of species.”⁵⁰

According to a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, climate change is “likely to become a major pressure on biodiversity in the coming decades, probably matching or exceeding the effects of land-use change by 2070.⁵¹

Key Quotes

January 22, 2020

In a Summit News article about teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg, Watson wrote:⁵²

“Even if you believe wholeheartedly in the decidedly shaky science behind man-made global warming, the west is more than doing its part. But we’re the ones being lectured to not travel, not eat meat and not have children despite already being in massive demographic decline.⁵³

“Meanwhile, Africa, India and China continue to wantonly pollute and none of Greta Thunberg’s fury or the attention of the media is ever directed their way.”⁵⁴

October 17, 2019

Watson wrote about climate change activists:⁵⁵

“The ‘Extinction Rebellion’ protest movement is one huge virtue signal centered around middle and upper middle class people lecturing working class people on how to live their lives.”⁵⁶

July 11, 2019

Watson claimed that a non-peer reviewed manuscript which falsely claims natural cloud changes explain global warming, proved there was no “overwhelming consensus” on climate change:⁵⁷ ⁵⁸

“While the methods and results of the study can be debated, this once again illustrates how there is no overwhelming consensus on man-made global warming as the media often claims.

“In reality, there are dozens of prominent scientists who believe that climate change is driven by natural forces or that the United Nations’ climate projections are unreliable.”⁵⁹

February 3, 2019

Watson tweeted:⁶⁰

“Global warming is bullshit. I grew up in the 80’s being lectured that by the late 90s the ecosystem would collapse.

We will all be here 30 years from now completely fine.

Debate me, bet me any money bitches. The world will survive. Everything will be fine.

Stop being idiotic.”⁶¹

December 6, 2018

In response to a video of U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arguing that a “transition to 100 percent renewable energy” could be used to “deliver economic, social and racial justice in the United States”, Watson wrote:⁶²

“Both man-made climate change and ‘racism’ are hysterical scare campaigns pushed by elite institutions to rip off and divide people.”⁶³

December 29, 2017

On Twitter, Watson wrote:⁶⁴

“Al Gore was wrong. The UN was wrong. All the climate ‘scientists’ stuffing their pockets with grant money to push the fake pseudo-science of global warming were wrong.

Why is anyone still listening to them?”⁶⁵

June 1, 2017

The same day that President Donald Trump confirmed the U.S. would pull out of the U.N. Paris Agreement, a global treaty to address climate change, Watson wrote:⁶⁶ ⁶⁷

“The same amount of evidence exists for man-made climate change as Russia ‘hacking’ the election. None whatsoever.”⁶⁸

May 31, 2017

Watson tweeted:⁶⁹

“Global warming regulations are exacerbating poverty & overpopulation in the third world.

The #ParisAgreement is racist.

Trump is right.”⁷⁰

Key Actions

February 16, 2021

Watson sent a tweet criticising the alleged hypocrisy of Bill Gates’ advocacy for the consumption of lab-grown meat. He stated: “Bill Gates saying western countries should switch to “100% synthetic beef” while himself being a vociferous carnivore and admitting his favorite food is hamburgers,” adding: “You’ll be eating the 3D printed plastic meat, not him and his Davos friends.”⁷¹

February 3, 2021

According to Media Matters for America, Watson claimed that governments planned to use the COVID-19 lockdowns as a pretext to impose climate lockdowns to curtail consumption and emissions, stating: “With barely a whimper of opposition, lockdowns have been established as the primary, reasonable go-to response to a crisis. This isn’t going to end with COVID-19.”⁷²

March 23, 2020

Watson claimed on Twitter that “environmentalists feel happy and vindicated that thousands of people are dying” due to the coronavirus. Reacting to actor Idris Elba’s suggestion that the pandemic was Earth’s response to being damaged by humanity, Watson wrote that there was “no chance in hell” that we should trust “these” people.⁷³

January 22, 2020

Watson criticised a German panel of linguists for banning the words “climate hysteria” as part of their annual ‘Un-word of the year’. Suggesting that the language was banned because the linguists were “nervous that more Germans appear to be rejecting the cult of man-made climate change,” Watson compared the action to Newspeak, the fictional language designed to limit free speech and thought featured in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.⁷⁴ ⁷⁵

December 14, 2019

Watson criticised Sky News for giving a “gushingly sympathetic 30 minute platform” to climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion, claiming that it was proof that global warming “hysteria” was a “top down movement backed by giant corporations & institutions to the detriment of ordinary working people”.⁷⁶

December 13, 2019

Watson retweeted a post by environmental writer George Monbiot with a comment claiming that he was part of the “globalist climate change hysteria movement backed by giant banks, corporations & the entire mainstream media”.⁷⁷

November 5, 2019

Watson claimed that 11,250 climate change scientists had shown “shocking racism” for suggesting people should have fewer children in an emergency declaration.⁷⁸ ⁷⁹