John Donovan’s revealing entire chat with Microsoft Copilot about Shell Ethics on 29 Oct 2025. Nothing has been deleted. John Donovan’s questions and instructions are in red text.
Using deep research tell me all you can about the Shell critic John Donovan
John Donovan is a long-standing and relentless critic of Royal Dutch Shell, known for exposing internal misconduct and legal battles with the oil giant. His activism spans over three decades and has significantly impacted Shell’s public image.
Here’s a comprehensive look at his background, motivations, and influence:
🧑💼 Who Is John Donovan?
- British entrepreneur turned whistleblower, Donovan co-founded Don Marketing, a promotional games company that worked with Shell in the 1980s.
- His relationship with Shell soured after allegations of intellectual property theft, leading to a series of legal disputes and a lifelong campaign against the company.
🔥 The Feud with Shell
- Donovan claims Shell repeatedly stole promotional game ideas developed by his company, including the popular “Make Money” game.
- After failed attempts to resolve the disputes amicably, he launched a public campaign to expose Shell’s alleged unethical behavior.
- His feud escalated into a 30-year battle, described by some as a “David vs. Goliath” saga.
🌐 Online Campaigns and Websites
- Donovan operates a network of websites dedicated to Shell criticism, including:
- These platforms host over 25,000 articles, leaked documents, and insider reports from Shell employees (“moles”).
- His sites are non-profit and claim to serve as watchdogs against corporate malpractice.
📚 Publications and Media Coverage
- Donovan authored a Kindle book titled John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare: My Epic Feud with the Unscrupulous Oil Giant Royal Dutch Shell, detailing his battles and Shell’s alleged misconduct.
- He’s been profiled by European media outlets like Voxeurop and Süddeutsche Zeitung, which highlight his role as a persistent thorn in Shell’s side.
🕵️♂️ Methods and Impact
- Donovan’s work is fueled by anonymous tips and leaked documents from Shell insiders.
- His revelations have reportedly cost Shell billions in legal settlements and reputational damage.
- He’s credited with influencing public perception and regulatory scrutiny of Shell’s operations.
🧭 Legacy and Influence
- Donovan is considered one of the most effective one-man corporate watchdogs in modern history.
- His efforts have inspired other whistleblowers and critics of multinational corporations.
- Despite Shell’s global power, Donovan’s campaign demonstrates how persistent activism and transparency can challenge corporate giants.
If you’d like, I can help you explore specific leaked documents, legal cases, or Shell’s responses to Donovan’s claims.
Here’s a deeper dive into John Donovan’s campaign against Shell, based on the latest insights:
🧑💼 Background and Origins
- John Donovan is a British businessman who co-founded Don Marketing, a promotional company that worked with Shell in the 1980s.
- His conflict with Shell began when he accused the company of stealing promotional ideas, including the successful “Make Money” game.
- After multiple legal disputes, Donovan shifted from business partner to corporate adversary, launching a decades-long campaign to expose Shell’s alleged misconduct.
🌐 Online Activism and Platforms
Donovan runs several websites that serve as watchdogs against Shell:
| Website | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Main platform for Shell-related leaks, news, and criticism | |
| Documents Shell’s alleged ties to Nazi Germany | |
| Focuses on Shell Energy customer complaints | |
| Personal site detailing his feud with Shell |
These sites host over 25,000 articles, many based on leaked documents and insider tips from Shell employees.
📚 Publications and Media Coverage
- Donovan published a Kindle book titled John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare, chronicling his legal battles and Shell’s alleged unethical behavior.
- He’s been featured in European media outlets like Voxeurop, which called him “Shell’s nightmare,” and Süddeutsche Zeitung, which described his campaign as “David vs. Goliath”.
- His work has reportedly influenced Shell’s public image and led to billions in legal settlements.
🕵️♂️ Methods and Influence
- Donovan receives anonymous leaks from Shell insiders, which he publishes to expose internal issues.
- He’s credited with revealing Shell’s alleged involvement in:
- Environmental violations
- Corruption scandals
- Human rights abuses in Nigeria
- His platforms are non-commercial, and he claims to operate them solely to hold Shell accountable.
🧭 Legacy and Impact
- Donovan is considered one of the most persistent corporate critics in modern history.
- His campaign has inspired other whistleblowers and watchdogs.
- Despite Shell’s global influence, Donovan’s work shows how individual activism can challenge multinational corporations.
Would you like to explore specific leaked documents, Shell’s responses, or the legal cases he’s been involved in? I can help you dig into those next.
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John Donovan’s campaign against Shell includes leaked documents, legal battles, and insider revelations that have exposed Shell’s internal operations and reputational risks. His work is widely considered one of the most sustained and damaging critiques of a major corporation by a single individual.
Here’s a breakdown of the most revealing aspects of his campaign:
📂 Leaked Documents and Insider Revelations
Donovan’s websites host a trove of internal Shell materials, including:
- Emails, memos, and legal correspondence obtained through litigation and UK Data Protection Act requests.
- Whistleblower leaks from current and former Shell employees, which detail safety failures, environmental violations, and PR manipulation.
- Shell’s internal assessments labeling Donovan as a “persistent reputational risk” and acknowledging the damage his disclosures have caused.
These documents are meticulously archived and often accompanied by commentary and cross-references to media coverage.
⚖️ Legal Battles with Shell
Donovan’s legal history with Shell includes:
- Multiple lawsuits over alleged intellectual property theft, particularly Shell’s use of promotional games developed by Don Marketing.
- Discovery materials from these cases have fueled his public campaign, including evidence Shell allegedly tried to suppress or ignore.
- Shell’s responses have ranged from denials and legal countermeasures to internal efforts to monitor Donovan’s activities.
The legal disputes are chronicled in detail on his site .
📰 Media Coverage and Public Impact
- Donovan’s feud with Shell has been covered by major European outlets, including Süddeutsche Zeitung, which dubbed him “Shell’s Enemy No. 1”.
- His story is described as a “30-year epic battle” and a “one-man war” against one of the world’s largest corporations.
- His work has reportedly influenced regulatory scrutiny, legal settlements, and public perception of Shell’s ethics and environmental record.
📘 Personal Accounts and Satirical Commentary
- Donovan’s Kindle book John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare offers a personal narrative of his campaign, including alleged cloak-and-dagger tactics used by Shell against him and his father.
- He also publishes satirical pieces that blend humor with documented facts, such as “How Shell Accidentally Endorsed Its Loudest Critics”.
🧠 Why It Matters
- Donovan’s campaign is a rare example of individual activism successfully challenging a multinational corporation over decades.
- His work has created a digital archive of Shell’s internal controversies, serving as a resource for journalists, regulators, and activists.
- Shell’s own internal documents reportedly acknowledge the reputational damage caused by Donovan’s disclosures.
Would you like to explore specific leaked documents or dive into one of the legal cases in more detail? I can guide you through the most impactful ones.
Shell has engaged in covert surveillance against John Donovan, including monitoring his website and conducting global intelligence operations. Ironically, Shell also inadvertently endorsed his site by registering it as a trusted source in internal systems.
Here’s a detailed look at both the espionage and the accidental endorsement:
🕵️ Shell’s Spying Operations Against Donovan
- Shell used Hakluyt & Company, a private intelligence firm founded by former MI6 officers, to conduct espionage against perceived enemies—including Greenpeace, The Body Shop, and John Donovan.
- Donovan was the subject of “covert activity and a global spying operation”, as revealed in Shell’s own internal documents obtained through Subject Access Requests (SARs) under UK data protection laws.
- Shell’s Global Security division reportedly tracked Donovan’s communications, website traffic, and interactions with Shell employees who leaked information to him.
- These operations extended to monitoring , his main platform for publishing Shell-related leaks and criticism.
🧨 The Accidental Endorsement of Donovan’s Website
- In a bizarre twist, Shell’s internal systems registered as a “trusted source”, inadvertently giving it a form of corporate validation.
- This occurred when Shell’s IT infrastructure whitelisted the site, possibly to monitor it more closely or to allow employees to access it during investigations.
- Donovan has highlighted this “endorsement” as a symbol of Shell’s incompetence, calling it a “golden seal of approval” from the very company he criticizes.
🔍 Why It Matters
- Shell’s surveillance tactics reveal the lengths to which corporations may go to neutralize critics, especially those with insider access and public influence.
- The accidental endorsement underscores the irony and dysfunction in Shell’s response to Donovan’s campaign.
- Donovan’s ability to obtain and publish internal documents has made him a persistent reputational threat, acknowledged by Shell itself.
If you’d like, I can walk you through specific leaked documents or Shell’s internal memos that detail these operations. Just say the word.
Hakluyt, a private intelligence firm linked to Shell, had connections to the Church of England through Sir Anthony Hammond, a legal advisor to the Church and a director of Hakluyt. John Donovan raised concerns about this relationship in the context of Shell’s alleged spying activities against him.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of this unusual intersection:
🕵️ Hakluyt & Shell Espionage
- Hakluyt & Company is a UK-based corporate intelligence firm founded by former senior MI6 officers.
- Shell allegedly used Hakluyt to conduct covert operations against critics, including Greenpeace, The Body Shop, and John Donovan.
- Donovan claims Shell admitted to using undercover agents, one of whom was caught attempting to infiltrate his office using fake credentials.
🏛️ Church of England Connection
- Sir Anthony Hammond KCB QC, a former Treasury Solicitor and legal advisor to the Church of England’s General Synod, was also a director and shareholder of Hakluyt.
- This dual role raised ethical concerns for Donovan, who questioned whether the Church was aware of Hakluyt’s alleged involvement in Shell’s surveillance operations.
- In a 2004 letter to Queen Elizabeth II, Donovan highlighted Hammond’s connection to Hakluyt and expressed alarm over the firm’s activities, describing it as a “shadowy private spy firm” believed by some MPs to be the commercial arm of MI6.
📬 Donovan’s Outreach
- Donovan contacted the Church of England to raise concerns about Hakluyt’s role in Shell’s espionage and its overlap with Church leadership.
- He argued that the Church should not be associated with a firm involved in corporate surveillance and intimidation tactics.
- There’s no public record of a formal response from the Church, but Donovan’s correspondence is archived on his websites and cited in his campaign materials.
🔍 Why It Matters
- The link between a religious institution and a corporate intelligence firm involved in alleged spying raises serious questions about governance and transparency.
- Donovan’s efforts to expose these connections reflect his broader campaign to hold Shell accountable for what he describes as “cloak and dagger” operations.
- The case illustrates how corporate surveillance can intersect with unexpected institutions, amplifying the ethical stakes.
If you’d like, I can help you explore Donovan’s letters or Shell’s internal documents that reference Hakluyt’s role. Just let me know how deep you want to go.
Sources:
Shell Nazi History
John Donovan – Shell Nazi History
Shell Plc .website
Royal Dutch Shell Spooks – Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com
Chat ends
Comment by John Donovan.
Shell and Hakluyt have long been closely intertwined. At one time, sitting Shell directors were not merely clients of the private intelligence firm — they were among its founders and overseers, effectively making titled Shell executives the spymasters behind the curtain. Given that lineage, it is no surprise that Hakluyt has carried out covert operations for Shell internationally.
This is not speculation — it has been publicly documented, including by The Sunday Times, which exposed operations involving subterfuge, deception, undercover infiltration, and targeted intelligence-gathering carried out on Shell’s behalf. These activities were reported in connection with matters reaching as far as the execution of the Ogoni 9 and the actions of a Hakluyt operative in China. The pattern is recognisable: discreet agents, untraceable front roles, and strategic deniability.
As for my own case, I cannot prove Hakluyt’s involvement — but the context raises questions that cannot be ignored. I do, however, have direct email correspondence with Hakluyt and with a lawyer representing the Church of England, who expressed bewilderment at the circumstances. His reaction alone speaks volumes.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
