Citizen journalist Nick Shirley says he’s been getting dea*h threats. A lot of them.
The young reporter, known for his on-the-ground videos and his habit of showing up where mainstream outlets won’t, says the messages started pouring in a few weeks ago. They came by email, through direct messages, and in the comments under nearly every video he posted. Some were vague. Others were specific enough that he stopped sleeping at home for a few nights.
Instead of going quiet, Shirley went to work. And he says he has tied the people sending them straight back to George Soros. “I guess they thought they were dealing with an amateur,” Shirley said. “I was able to track them down in under 24 hours.”
Shirley explained that many of the accounts sending the threats had been set up in a hurry and weren’t as anonymous as their owners believed. By following usernames, email addresses, and a few careless posts, he says he connected several of them to activist groups that receive funding from organizations linked to Soros.
“It wasn’t even that hard,” he said. “People get lazy. They reuse the same handles, they post from the same places. Once you pull one thread, the whole thing starts to come apart.”
He has sent everything he found to local police and the FBI. He says he didn’t post names publicly because he wants law enforcement to handle it the right way.
“I’m not trying to start a war online,” Shirley said. “I just want these people held responsible. Threatening to kill somebody is a crime, no matter who’s paying your bills.”
Shirley built his following by walking into places and asking questions on camera. His videos have racked up millions of views, and supporters say he has done more real reporting in a year than some newsrooms do in a decade. That kind of attention, he says, comes with a price.
“When you start showing people things they weren’t supposed to see, somebody gets upset,” he said. “I knew that going in. I didn’t think it would get this bad.”
Soros-backed groups have long been a target of criticism on the right, and the billionaire’s foundation has repeatedly said it does not direct or approve of harassment. A spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations did not respond to a request for comment about Shirley’s claims.
Online, the reaction came fast. Thousands of supporters flooded his posts with messages of encouragement, and several other independent journalists said they had received similar threats in the past. Some critics questioned his findings and urged him to wait for investigators before pointing fingers.
Shirley says he’s fine with that. He has done his part, and now it’s up to the authorities.
In the meantime, he isn’t slowing down. He says he plans to keep reporting, keep posting, and keep showing up wherever the story is. “I’m not going to be intimidated,” said Nick. Stay strong, Nick. And stay safe.