Do we like them?

Do we like Tom Scott?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful or dodgy found in the reporting, but the record is light on documented good deeds.

Quick note: there are a few Tom Scotts out there. This is the English YouTuber behind the educational Things You Might Not Know videos, the one fans have watched since the garlic bread in space days.

He'd been posting online since 1999 with little reach for years. On 1 January 2014 he put up an 83-second Things You Might Not Know video and then kept to a weekly schedule for a decade, covering hundreds of topics. One of the least substantial, a raw cut of garlic bread flying in space, pulled nearly 8 million views.

In January 2024 he called time. He said he couldn't keep it up and that it was his dream job, but it was time to take a breather. He said he didn't know when or if he'd return, and that it wouldn't be weekly. Walking away from a hugely successful streak because it was wearing him down is a rare, grown-up move for a creator.

Now the harm check. We searched his name against LGBTQ+ and trans issues, women, vaccines, climate, race and politics. Nothing came up: no campaigning, no conspiracy slide, no culture-war grift. We found no co-productions with the usual suspects either. His recent series is made in collaboration with Penny4 and Breadbox Studios. That's an absence of evidence rather than a loud statement of values, so we say it plainly.

On the record side, we found no lawsuits against him and no allegations in the reporting. The one stoush was one he started: in 2018 he complained that the Brave browser was collecting crypto donations in his name without his consent, and said it kept refusing refunds. Brave said refunds were impossible, and no final outcome was reported.

The recent news is a happy one. He announced Tom Scott: England in his newsletter on 16 March 2026, and said he thinks these are the best videos he's ever made. Episodes land on Nebula first, then free on YouTube a week later, with weekly episodes planned if all goes well. Reports put it at over 40 episodes.