One week in the past, 23-year-old Nick Shirley was comparatively unknown in the public sphere. But in current days, he has gained a whole bunch of 1000’s of followers and tens of millions of views, amplified by Elon Musk, Vice President JD Vance and FBI Director Kash Patel.
The MAGA leaders promoted Shirley’s video of himself and a Minnesota activist investigating federally funded amenities in the state that allegedly posed as daycares with none kids current. It’s a part of what many on the proper say is widespread authorities help fraud perpetuated by the Somali group there.
Shirley’s expertise might solely occur in right now’s media and political atmosphere – the place seemingly anybody can go viral, helped alongside by social media gatekeepers like Musk. His Minnesota investigation video has garnered over 116 million views on X and 1.6 million views on YouTube – a quantity that almost all conventional newsrooms would trumpet as a significant success.
Shirley and others like him current themselves as the way forward for journalism. They typically declare the lack of conventional modifying, reality checks and guardrails makes them extra reliable. Meanwhile, the viewers for mainstream media has been falling for years, and public belief in conventional journalists is at historic lows, amplified by political figures who make denigrating journalists a part of their model.
Shirley has not at all times introduced himself as an “independent journalist” as he does now. His YouTube account’s early movies are extra alongside the strains of “shock content” and pranks. Six years in the past, as a 16 year-old, he filmed himself flying to New York along with his pals with out parental consent. Three years after that, he posted a video titled “I Tricked TikTokers Into Auditioning For a Justin Bieber Music Video.”
Though he discovered modest success with these movies, Shirley began actually gaining views as soon as he shifted focus to political points.
In December 2021, Shirley announced he was quitting in to serve on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Santiago, Chile. Two years later, he resurfaced along with his present video format – content material that focuses completely on political points. His first a number of movies targeted on unlawful immigration at the border.
Immediately, he gained considerably extra views on YouTube than his prior movies. He surpassed 1 million views for the first time with “I investigated the NYC Migrant Crisis,” posted in February 2024. A video titled “I infiltrated Rio, Brazil’s most dangerous gang” is his greatest to this point, with greater than 4.3 million views. His YouTube channel at present has 1.21 million subscribers.
By 2025, Shirley was well-known in the MAGA universe and was invited to talk at the White House in October throughout a roundtable with President Donald Trump about Antifa, an anti-fascist motion with no management or group.
Shirely’s video in Minnesota was posted throughout a usually quiet day for information: December 26.
Although the video has executed comparatively effectively on YouTube, X mentioned his video has garnered greater than 116 million views on the platform.
The explosion in viewership got here after a lift from different conservative figures, together with Nick Sortor, Gunther Eagleman and Collin Rugg. But the views actually took off when Vance and X proprietor Musk reposted Shirley’s video on December 27.
Musk, particularly, has lengthy commented about allegations of fraud in the immigrant community, together with the Somali group. Since Shirley’s piece took off, Musk has amplified the story a number of occasions, framing it as emblematic of broader authorities waste, Democratic insurance policies, immigration and as a failure of mainstream media.
The consideration additionally has brought on Shirley’s follower rely on X to shoot up – from round 200,000 in early December to greater than 800,000 on December 29.
Shirley is not the first to report on the allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota. News shops have been protecting the subject for months – together with, like Shirley, knocking on the doorways of seemingly empty Minnesota little one care facilities.
In January, KSTP Channel 5, an ABC affiliate reported on 62 active investigations involving federally funded Minnesota little one care facilities. In October, the outlet spoke to an auditor and whistleblower, claiming “he found dozens of suspected fraud cases involving Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)”.
CBS News has revealed a number of items on alleged fraud in Minnesota by lots of Somali descent, together with an investigation titled “Luxury cars and private villas: See how Minnesota fraudsters spent millions intended for hungry kids”.
The FBI had already been investigating fraud circumstances in Minnesota. But Shirley’s mega-viral video prompted Patel to reply, posting on X that “even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
But in right now’s trendy media atmosphere, it’s the proper determine – with the proper following and with the fashion that resonates with the viewers hitting at the proper time – that may make all the viral distinction.