Pool was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in a middle-class family. His father was a firefighter and his mother sold cars.[6] His maternal grandmother is Korean.[7]
Pool attended a Catholic school until completing the fifth grade[8] and left school at the age of 14.[6][9]
Career
Occupy Wall Street
After watching a viral video from Occupy Wall Street, Pool purchased a one-way bus ticket to New York.[10] Pool joined the Occupy Wall Street protestors on September 20, 2011, and met Henry Ferry, a former realtor and sales manager, shortly afterwards, and they formed a media company called The Other 99.[11] Pool also began livestreaming the protests with his cell phone and quickly assumed an on-camera role.[10] Pool used a live-chat stream to respond to questions from viewers while reporting on Occupy Wall Street.[12] Pool also let his viewers direct him on where to shoot footage.[13] He modified a toy remote-controlled Parrot AR.Drone for aerial surveillance and modified software for live streaming into a system called DroneStream.[14][15] In mid-November 2011, Pool provided non-stop 21 hour coverage of Occupy Wall Street's eviction from Zuccotti Park.[16] Pool's use of live streaming video and aerial drones during Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011 led to an article in The Guardian querying whether such activities could take the form of counterproductive surveillance.[15]
In January 2012, he was physically accosted by a masked assailant.[16][17] Also in January 2012, The Other 99 was disbanded following a feud between Pool and Ferry.[18][19] Pool had also planned on livestreaming occupy protests across the United States for a documentary called Occumentary, but it was never filmed.[10]
Pool's video taken during the protests was instrumental evidence in the acquittal of photographer Alexander Arbuckle, who had been arrested by the NYPD. The video showed that the arresting officer lied under oath, though no charges were filed.[20] While covering the NoNATO protests at the 2012 Chicago summit, Pool and four others were pulled over by a dozen Chicago police officers in unmarked vehicles. The group was removed from the vehicle at gunpoint, questioned, and detained for ten minutes. The reason given by police was that the team's vehicle matched a description of another vehicle they sought.[21]
In the context of the Occupy movement, Pool's footage was aired on NBC and other mainstream networks.[11][14][22][23] According to The Washington Post, Pool "helped demonstrate to activists that livestreaming had potential as an alternative to depending on cable news coverage".[24] He was nominated as a Time 100 personality in March 2012 for his importance to the Occupy movement, alongside David Graeber,[25] as Time dubbed Pool "the eyes of the movement".[26]
In November 2011, Pool told On the Media, "I don't consider myself a journalist." "I consider myself an activist 100%" there "to support the movement."[27] In October 2012, he told El País that "I'm not an activist" and described himself as a journalist.[28] In 2018, Pool said that "I don't align with Occupy Wall Street and never did".[29] In 2021, he denounced the Occupy movement as "crooked".[30]
Vice and Fusion
Pool in 2015
After joining Vice Media, Pool began producing and hosting content and developed new methods of reporting.[31] In 2013, he reported on the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul with Google Glass.[32][31] In April 2013, Pool received a Shorty Award in the "Best Journalist in Social Media" category.[33] From 2013 to 2014, while working for Vice, Pool covered and live streamed the mass protests in Ukraine that led to the collapse of the Yanukovych government.[34] He also covered the Ferguson unrest and covered protests in Thailand, Turkey, and Egypt.[10]
In 2014, he joined Fusion TV as Director of Media innovation and Senior Correspondent.[35][36][37]
Independent work
As of 2021, Pool operates six YouTube channels, two of which, Timcast and Tim Pool, feature daily political commentary,[needs update] while a third serves as a clip channel for Pool's podcast, Timcast IRL.[38][10]
In May 2022, it was estimated that Timcast IRL generated $65,824.86 in non-advertising revenue for YouTube across 100 videos on the Timcast IRL channel from October 2020 to November 2021.[39]
Journalism and commentary
Pool covered the 2016 Milwaukee riots. Pool said he would leave the area and stop reporting on these events, saying he thought it was dangerous due to perceived escalating "racial tensions".[40][41]
In February 2017, Pool traveled to Sweden to investigate claims of "no-go zones" and problems with refugees in the country. He launched a crowdfunding effort to do so after U.S. president Donald Trump alluded to crimes related to immigration in Sweden. InfoWars writer Paul Joseph Watson offered to pay for travel costs and accommodation for any reporter "to stay in crime-ridden migrant suburbs of Malmö."[42][43] Watson donated $2,000 to Pool's crowdfund to travel to Sweden.[10] While in Sweden, Pool largely disputed that migrant suburbs of Malmö and Stockholm were crime ridden, saying that Chicago is vastly more violent.[44][42][43] While filming in Rinkeby, an "especially vulnerable area" in Stockholm, Pool alleged that he had to be escorted by police, due to purported threats to his safety. Swedish police have disputed Pool's claims, stating, "Our understanding is that he didn't receive an escort. However, he followed the police who left the place."[45] The police stated that, "When Tim Pool took out a camera and started filming, a group of young people pulled their hoods up and covered their faces and shouted at him to stop filming. The officers then told Tim Pool that it was not wise to stay there in the middle of the square and keep filming."[45]
In November 2017, Pool created his second YouTube channel, Timcast News.[46]
In 2019, podcaster Joe Rogan invited Pool onto his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, following an interview with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The two criticized the banning of Milo Yiannopoulos from Twitter, arguing that the provocateur had not truly encouraged his fans to harass Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones.[47]The Atlantic contributor Devin Gordon criticized Rogan and Pool, stating that both men demonstrated a limited understanding of Twitter, censorship, and abuse during the discussion.[48] Rogan invited Pool and Dorsey, as well as Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, back on his podcast. Pool described cases where he asserted conservatives were unfairly suspended on Twitter. In particular, Pool brought up the banning of Alex Jones and argued that Twitter rules against misgendering transgender users is ideological. Gadde said that Twitter is a free speech platform on which punishments are based on evaluation of consistently-applied harassment guidelines.[49][50]
In July 2019, Pool was invited to participate in a White House event hosting right-wing internet personalities who President Trump characterized as unfairly targeted for their views.[2] Some news outlets described Pool as a spreader of a conspiracy theory about the murder of Seth Rich.[2][51]
In August 2020, Trump liked a tweet published by Pool expressing sympathy and support for Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois then facing trial on charges of killing two people during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for which he was ultimately acquitted.[52] Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., retweeted a statement by Pool describing how the case of Rittenhouse had convinced Pool to vote for Trump.[53][54][55][56][excessive citations]
In June 2021, Pool invited North Korean defector Yeonmi Park onto his podcast. Park claimed that North Koreans “don’t know the concept of love” aside from political admiration of Kim Jong-Un. Pool replied by telling her that this was "The most villainous thing I’ve ever heard,” however an investigation by experts and journalist into Park's claims about North Korea found that she had fabricated many of her stories, including the ones she told Pool.[58]
In November 2022, Pool interviewed rapper and presidential candidate Kanye West on his podcast, Timcast IRL. West's political advisors, alt-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and white supremacistNick Fuentes also participated in the interview. The interview came days after West and Fuentes met with former President Trump. During the interview, West made a series of antisemitic statements, including claims about a Jewish conspiracy controlling the American government and media. Pool criticized West's comments on Jews, saying "I'm gonna disagree with you." After Pool refused to criticize Jews, West and his advisors walked out of the interview.[63][64][65]
In September 2024, U.S. federal prosecutors charged two employees of Russia's state-controlled media network RT of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering and of allegedly launching a $10 million propaganda scheme that enlisted popular right-wing social media influencers. The indictment describes, but does not mention by name, Tenet Media, which has partnered with commentators Pool, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, Benny Johnson, Matt Christiansen, and Tayler Hansen.[68][69] Pool matches the indictment's description of "Commentator-2", who it alleges agreed to provide content to Tenet Media in exchange for "$100k per weekly episode".[70][60] In his response to the indictment on Twitter, Pool, who had previously stated that Ukraine was one of the United States' enemies,[71][72] stated that he was unaware of the company's connections to Russian funding and declared himself a victim of the alleged scheme.[69] U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said "the company never disclosed to the influencers–or to their millions of followers–its ties to RT and the Russian government".[69]
Other activities
In 2014, Pool helped launch Tagg.ly, a mobile app that watermarks photos. Pool said he was interested in this kind of application due to experiences where others used his photographs without attribution.[73][74]
In 2019, he co-founded the news company Subverse, which raised $1 million in 22 hours via regulation crowdfunding in 2019, surpassing the previous record on Wefunder.[75] The service was later renamed SCNR. Pool partnered with Emily Molli and former Vice editor-in-chief Rocco Castoro, although Pool later fired both of them in January 2021.[76][77]
In 2022, he collaborated with drummer Pete Parada to release two singles "Genocide" and "Only Ever Wanted". "Only Ever Wanted" reached the No. 2 spot on the global iTunes chart.[78] The single was most downloaded on the Billboard charts in September 2022 in Alternative Digital Song Sales.[79] Both singles reached the No. 1 spot on iTunes.
Like several other "alt-right gateway" or "alt-lite" figures, Pool presents a narrative of being a disaffected liberal in order to convey authenticity.[88] As of 2019, Pool described himself as a centrist or "center libertarian left", and rejected a left–right political paradigm for both self-description and in other contexts, instead dividing the public into those who are "discerning" and "skeptical" regarding mainstream media (which Pool describes intertwined with left-wing politics) and those who are "undiscerning" and "uninitiated"; his focus, however, was largely on criticizing anti-fascist protestors and progressive social justice movements.[89]:210 He had said that "the news is dying" and that in trying to appeal to young people with sensationalism, it skews towards liberal and left-leaning audiences.[89]:211A 2019 article in the journal Television & New Media analyzed Pool and two other YouTube influencers, Dave Rubin and Blaire White, as combining "micro-celebrity pratices with a reactionary political standpoint".[89]:201 Prior to Occupy Wall Street in 2011, Pool sometimes described himself as being anti-authoritarian or "pro-transparency", but not as very political.[10]
A July 2019 Vice article described Pool as "a right-wing media figure", while another Vice article from the same month described him as "lefty" and "progressive".[90][91] In 2019, Politico said Pool "describes himself as a pro-Bernie Sanderssocial liberal" but said his "views on issues including social media bias and immigration often align with conservatives'".[92]
According to Al Jazeera in 2020, "Pool has amplified claims that conservative media endure persecution and bias at the hands of tech companies."[93] On August 24, 2020, Pool announced his support for Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, writing that he felt alienated by changes he perceived in the modern left.[55][76]
In 2021, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described Pool as a "pro-Trump social media personality" who "uses his YouTube show to showcase far-right extremists".[94] In 2022, NBC News referred to Pool as a "right-wing influencer".[95]BBC News in 2023 said Pool's podcasts "cover right-wing talking points and conspiracy theories".[96]The New York Times in 2023 described Pool's podcast as "extreme right-wing", and Pool himself as "right-wing" and a "provocateur".[97]Le Monde in 2024 described Pool as a "star influencer" of the "American far right",[98] and a 2023 article in the Journal of Quantitative Description described Pool as "extreme right".[99]
Alexander Emerick Jones is an American far-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts The Alex Jones Show from Austin, Texas, which is the longest-running online news and politics talk show, and was previously broadcast by the Genesis Communications Network across the United States via syndicated and internet radio. He is the founder of InfoWars and Banned.Video, websites that promote conspiracy theories and fake news.
New Tang Dynasty Television is a multilingual American television broadcaster founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language broadcaster, but has since expanded its language offerings; in July 2020, it launched its 24/7 English channel which now broadcasts nationwide in the U.S. and UK. It is under the Epoch Media Group, a consortium which also includes the newspaper The Epoch Times. The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have promoted conspiracy theories such as QAnon, anti-vaccine misinformation and false claims of fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election.
The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.
Parler is an American alt-tech social networking service associated with conservatives. Launched in August 2018, Parler marketed itself as a free speech-focused and unbiased alternative to mainstream social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Journalists described Parler as an alt-tech alternative to Twitter, with its users including those banned from mainstream social networks or who oppose their moderation policies.
Stefan Basil Molyneux is an Irish-born Canadian white nationalist podcaster and proponent of conspiracy theories, white supremacy, scientific racism, and the men's rights movement. He is the founder of the Freedomain Radio website. As of September 2020, Molyneux has been permanently banned or suspended from PayPal, Mailchimp, YouTube, and SoundCloud, all for violating hate speech policies.
Zero Hedge is a far-right libertarian financial blog and news aggregator. Zero Hedge is bearish in its investment outlook and analysis, often deriving from a strict adherence to the Austrian School of economics and credit cycles. It has been described as a financial "permabear".
The Daily Caller is a right-wing news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and political pundit Neil Patel in 2010. Launched as a "conservative answer to The Huffington Post", The Daily Caller quadrupled its audience and became profitable by 2012, surpassing several rival websites by 2013. In 2020, the site was described by The New York Times as having been "a pioneer in online conservative journalism". The Daily Caller is a member of the White House press pool.
One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
The Proud Boys is a North American far-right, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence. The group's leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the federal government of the United States, including its constitutionally prescribed transfer of presidential power. It has been called a street gang and was designated as a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand. The Proud Boys are opposed to left-wing and progressive groups and support Donald Trump, the former president of the United States and current President-elect of the United States. While Proud Boys leadership has denied being a white supremacist organization, the group and some of its members have been connected to white supremacist events, ideologies, and other white-power groups throughout its existence.
Charles James Kirk is an American conservative political activist, author and media personality. With Bill Montgomery, he co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012, for which Kirk serves as executive director. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Turning Point Action, Turning Point Academy, and Turning Point Faith; president of Turning Point Endowment; and a member of the Council for National Policy.
Jack Michael Posobiec III is an American alt-right political activist, television correspondent and presenter, conspiracy theorist, and former United States Navy intelligence officer.
Laura Elizabeth Loomer is an American far-right political activist, conspiracy theorist, and internet personality. She was the Republican nominee to represent Florida's 21st congressional district in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections, losing to Democrat Lois Frankel. She also ran in the Republican primary for Florida's 11th congressional district in 2022, losing to incumbent Daniel Webster.
Antifa is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups that use nonviolent direct action, incivility, or violence to achieve their aims. Antifa political activism includes non-violent methods such as poster and flyer campaigns, mutual aid, speeches, protest marches, and community organizing. Some who identify as antifa also use tactics involving digital activism, doxing, harassment, physical violence, and property damage. Supporters of the movement aim to combat far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
James Orien Allsup is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and former political commentator and podcaster.
Rick Wiles is a far-right American conspiracy theorist, pundit, and Christian fundamentalist senior pastor at the non-denominational Flowing Streams Church. He is the founder of TruNews, a website promoting racist, homophobic, and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
James Stephen Lindsay, known professionally as James A. Lindsay, is an American author. He is known for the grievance studies affair, in which he, Peter Boghossian and Helen Pluckrose submitted hoax articles to academic journals in 2017 and 2018 to test scholarship and rigor in several academic fields. Lindsay has written several books including Cynical Theories (2020), which he co-authored with Pluckrose. He has promoted right-wing conspiracy theories such as Cultural Marxism and LGBT grooming conspiracy theories.
Nicholas Joseph Fuentes is an American far-right political pundit, activist, and live streamer who promotes white supremacist, misogynistic, and antisemitic views. His YouTube page was permanently terminated in February 2020 for violating YouTube's hate speech policy. Fuentes has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories against Jews and called for a "holy war" against them, and has denied the Holocaust. He has been described as a neo-Nazi by various sources. Fuentes identifies as a member of the incel movement, a supporter of authoritarianism, and as an integralist and a Christian nationalist.
Rumble is an online video platform, web hosting, and cloud services business headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with its U.S. headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida. It was founded in 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Macedonian Canadian technology entrepreneur. Rumble's cloud services business hosts Truth Social, and the video platform is popular among American conservative and far-right users. Rumble has been described as "alt-tech".
David Smith is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and libertarian political commentator. He has frequently appeared on Fox News Channel's Kennedy and The Greg Gutfeld Show. Additionally, he was a recurring panelist on CNN's S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered.
Ian Anthony Kochinski, better known as Vaush, is an American left-wing YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Kochinski started his online career as a member of streamer Destiny's community, before creating his Twitch channel and YouTube account in 2019. His content consists of commentary on various news and media topics, alongside debates and discussions with various political figures. Noted for his confrontational style, use of memes, and mimicry from right-wing YouTubers, he is regarded as part of the BreadTube community.
1 2 3 Collins, Ben; Alba, Monica (July 11, 2019). "Conspiracy theorists, far-right agitators head to White House with social media in their sights". NBC News. Retrieved August 24, 2021. While the Trump administration has generally embraced the far-right social media sphere, Thursday's event will be one of the first to bring that digital ecosystem into the real world.... Tim Pool, a YouTube personality who has pushed the false conspiracy theory that former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich leaked hacked emails to WikiLeaks, also plans to attend the event.
↑ Shephard, Alex (July 11, 2019). "Trump Assembles His Gang of Social-Media Deplorables". The New Republic. ISSN0028-6583. Retrieved September 8, 2024. So did Tim Pool, a YouTube conspiracy theorist who has suggested that Seth Rich, the former DNC staffer whose 2016 murder remains unsolved, was collaborating with Wikileaks on anti–Hillary Clinton releases.
↑ Cheney-Rice, Zak (August 31, 2020). "Trump Is an Arsonist Masquerading As a Firefighter". Intelligencer. Retrieved December 29, 2020. Rittenhouse appears to have joined a loose agglomeration of armed militia members who took it on themselves to patrol the streets that night
↑ Sardarizadeh, Shayan; Wendling, Mike (May 9, 2023). "Why some people are spreading false rumours about the Texas gunman". BBC News. Retrieved July 16, 2023. There's no evidence that Garcia was inspired to action by Mr Pool's podcasts, which cover right-wing talking points and conspiracy theories. But Mr Pool immediately tried to cast doubt on the veracity of the material, accusing those digging up the material as being part of a "psyop".
↑ Reynaud, Florian; Leloup, Damien (September 5, 2024). "US crackdown on Tenet Media reveals ongoing Russian election interference". Le Monde. Retrieved September 8, 2024. However, the company has managed to attract some big names from the American far right, such as its star influencer Tim Pool... At the same time, he shifted politically, increasingly collaborating with hard-right influencers over the past 10 years.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
