Status: 🔴 A right-wing media outlet that routinely publishes anti-trans content, funded by $4.7 million in seed money from fracking billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks. The Daily Wire employs prominent anti-trans figures including Matt Walsh and has produced anti-trans documentary films targeting children.
The Daily Wire is an American right-wing media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro, filmmaker Jeremy Boreing, and Caleb Robinson.[1] It is one of the most influential conservative media outlets in the United States, consistently ranking among the top news publishers on Facebook for engagement.[2]
The company is owned by DailyWire Ventures, LLC, which is managed by Farris Wilks — the billionaire fracking magnate and pastor of the Assembly of Yahweh (7th day) who, along with his brother Dan Wilks, provided the $4.7 million seed funding that launched the outlet.[3][4]
Multiple academic studies have classified The Daily Wire as a fake news website, and it has been documented publishing climate change denial alongside its anti-LGBTQ+ content.[5][6]
The Daily Wire “regularly erases trans identities and parrots conservative transphobic talking points,” according to a 2025 investigation by Atmos and HEATED.[7] The outlet consistently publishes content attacking transgender people, opposing gender-affirming care, misgendering trans individuals, and platforming anti-trans activists.
Matt Walsh, one of The Daily Wire’s most prominent hosts, has built his career on anti-trans activism. Walsh hosts The Matt Walsh Show on The Daily Wire platform and has produced the following anti-trans content:
Walsh also supports the far-right white nationalist Great Replacement conspiracy theory.[11]
Beyond Walsh, The Daily Wire provides a platform for a range of anti-trans commentators and frequently publishes content opposing:
The Daily Wire was launched with $4.7 million in seed funding from Dan and Farris Wilks, the billionaire fracking brothers who made their fortune through Frac Tech.[3:1] Farris Wilks manages DailyWire Ventures, LLC, the entity that publishes the outlet.[4:1]
The Wilks brothers’ funding is part of a broader pipeline documented by the 2025 Atmos/HEATED investigation, showing how fossil fuel billionaires are bankrolling the anti-trans movement through media outlets like The Daily Wire.[7:1]
Farris Wilks and his wife JoAnn contributed $100 million to The Thirteen Foundation, which has funneled additional funds to The Daily Wire and other far-right organizations.[12]
In addition to its anti-LGBTQ+ content, The Daily Wire has a documented history of publishing climate change denial.[5:1][6:1] This is consistent with the fossil fuel interests of its billionaire funders — the Wilks brothers made their fortune in fracking, and Phil Anschutz (another key funder of the anti-trans movement) likewise built his wealth in oil and gas.[7:2]
The convergence of climate denial and anti-trans content under The Daily Wire’s roof illustrates the finding by Atmos/HEATED that oil and gas money flows through the entire anti-trans movement infrastructure.[7:3]
The Daily Wire operates across multiple platforms:
At its peak, The Daily Wire had 115 full-time employees and was the sixth-leading English-language publisher on Facebook by engagement.[1:1][2:1]
NPR — The Daily Wire is Facebook’s top news publisher (2021) ↩︎ ↩︎
American Prospect — The Wilks Brothers: Billionaire Frackers Fund the Anti-Trans Movement ↩︎ ↩︎
Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review — Fake news websites ↩︎ ↩︎
Atmos/HEATED — Fossil Fuel Billionaires Are Bankrolling the Anti-Trans Movement (June 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
Media Matters — Matt Walsh vs. hospitals providing trans healthcare ↩︎