Tim Pool

Timothy Daniel Pool (born March 9, 1986) is an American political commentator and podcast host.

He first became known for live streaming the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests.

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.

Pool also began livestreaming the protests with his cell phone and quickly assumed an on-camera role.

Pool used a live-chat stream to respond to questions from viewers while reporting on Occupy Wall Street.

Pool also let his viewers direct him on where to shoot footage.

He modified a toy remote-controlled Parrot AR.Drone for aerial surveillance and modified software for live streaming into a system called DroneStream.

In mid-November 2011, Pool provided non-stop 21 hour coverage of Occupy Wall Street's eviction from Zuccotti Park.

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.

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."

In January 2012, he was physically accosted by a masked assailant.

Also in January 2012, The Other 99 was disbanded following a feud between Pool and Ferry.

Pool had also planned on livestreaming occupy protests across the United States for a documentary called Occumentary, but it was never filmed.

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.

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.

In the context of the Occupy movement, Pool's footage was aired on NBC and other mainstream networks.

According to The Washington Post, Pool "helped demonstrate to activists that livestreaming had potential as an alternative to depending on cable news coverage".

He was nominated as a Time 100 personality in March 2012 for his importance to the Occupy movement, alongside David Graeber, as Time dubbed Pool "the eyes of the movement".

In October 2012, he told El País that "I'm not an activist" and described himself as a journalist.

In 2013, he reported on the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul with Google Glass.

In April 2013, Pool received a Shorty Award in the "Best Journalist in Social Media" category.

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.

He also covered the Ferguson unrest and covered protests in Thailand, Turkey, and Egypt.

He joined Vice Media and Fusion TV in 2014, later working alone on YouTube and other platforms, where he is known for promoting right-wing views.

Pool was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in a middle-class family.

His father was a firefighter and his mother sold cars.

Pool attended a Catholic school until completing the fifth grade and left school at the age of 14.

After watching a viral video from Occupy Wall Street, Pool purchased a one-way bus ticket to New York.

In 2014, he joined Fusion TV as Director of Media innovation and Senior Correspondent.

As of 2021, Pool operates six YouTube channels, two of which, Timcast and Tim Pool, feature daily political commentary, while a third serves as a clip channel for Pool's podcast, Timcast IRL.

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.

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".

In 2018, Pool said that "I don't align with Occupy Wall Street and never did".

In 2021, he denounced the Occupy movement as "crooked".

After joining Vice Media, Pool began producing and hosting content and developed new methods of reporting.