'I get 100 messages a day': Church of Scientology accused of abusing critics

Campaigners have faced allegations of bigotry, sexual misconduct and criminal behaviour from social media accounts linked to the organisation.

- Shanti Das reports

Alex Barnes-Ross, a marketing director from east London, regularly posts YouTube videos criticising Scientology. In some of them, the former Scientologist, 29, describes his experience of joining aged 15 and becoming its London director of book sales. In others, he talks about his mental health struggles after signing a "billion-year" contract devoting himself to the organisation-only to be kicked out a few years later, labelled a "potential trouble source".

Other videos scrutinise its finances and ask questions about alleged mistreatment at Narconon UK, a Scientology-linked rehab facility investigated by the Observer last year.

He has also organised peaceful protests including one outside Scientology's East Grinstead HQ in 2023 calling on it to "stop the abuse". The religious group has been accused of indoctrinating people, isolating them and subjecting them to intensive psychological drills, which it denies. "There are so many victims who are too afraid to speak out," Barnes-Ross says.

With 1.15m views on his YouTube channel, and 10,000 subscribers, Barnes-Ross has risen to become one of the most prominent campaigners against Scientology's practices in the UK. The group and its supporters have previously responded strongly to criticism, sending legal threats to journalists and branding their detractors "enemies of Scientology".

But he was not prepared for the intensity of the backlash.

Over the past six months, Barnes-Ross has faced a barrage of abuse with 6,000 posts targeted at him on Xalone. At first, the posts taunted him with insults, saying he looked like a "weirdo paedophile" and a "rabid anti-religious bigot". Others questioned his mental health, calling him "disturbed" and "unhinged". "Face it ... you are a schizophrenic," said one.