Chantelle Baker is a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

New Zealand social media influencer and conservative activist who is the daughter of former New Conservative Party leader Leighton Baker. In 2022, she attracted domestic media attention for her involvement in the

2022 Wellington protest The 2022 Wellington protest was an anti- mandate and anti-lockdown occupation of the grounds of Parliament House and Molesworth Street in Central Wellington during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The occupation springboarded off the New Z ...

and for her promotion of anti-COVID vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Family

Chantelle Baker is the daughter of Leighton Baker, who served as the leader of the New Conservative Party leader between 2015 and 2020. According to ''

The Spinoff ''The Spinoff'' is a New Zealand online magazine and news website that was founded in 2014. It is known for current affairs coverage, political and social analysis, and cultural commentary. It earns money through commercial sponsorship and su ...

'', Baker was a self-described fashionista and reality TV competitor who posted mainly fashion and beauty-related videos prior to the

Controversial views

Opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates

By February 2022, Chantelle claimed 100,000 followers on social media. Between February and March 2022, Chantelle and her father Leighton took part in the

against the covid vaccine and mandates. During the protest, Chantelle used

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

to distribute livestream footage of the protest, interviews promoting vaccine conspiracies including that COVID-19 vaccines could make a person "magnetic," and updates about court proceedings against protesters who were arrested. Though she and her father claimed not to speak on behalf of the protesters, they met with the Police to discuss the protest and the resulting vehicle blockage in the

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

CBD. ''

'' editor

Toby Manhire Toby Manhire (born 16 March; year unknown) is a New Zealand journalist and columnist, and the editor at-large of online magazine ''The Spinoff''. He is the son of poet Bill Manhire. Career Manhire was editor of student magazine '' Salient'' i ...

described her as the "

-ready face of the protest" due to her prolific social media promotion of the protest. After the Police dispersed the protesters from the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Monarchy of New Zealand, Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his Governor-General of New Zeal ...

's grounds on 3 March 2022, Chantelle claimed that fires started by protesters were started by police and agent provocateurs. Following the Wellington parliament protest, Baker continued sharing information on social media that conflicted with public health advice and expressed support for the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In mid-August 2022,

Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads ...

disabled Baker's Facebook page for violating their policy of sharing misinformation that could lead to harm. Meta did not suspend Baker's Instagram profile, which she continued to use to communicate with her followers. Baker has claimed that both the

Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jeremy Strong Fictional c ...

media company and New Zealand Government conspired to deplatform her Facebook account.

Operation People

By late August 2022, Baker had established a media company called Operation People.

Waimakariri District Council Waimakariri District Council () is the territorial authority for the Waimakariri District of New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () an ...

candidate and conspiracy theorist Phil Shaw owned a 32% share in Operation People through his film and video production company Scryptworx Studios Limited. In mid-October 2022, ''

'' reported that Baker had established a new Facebook page that was part of a "new independent media group." That same month, ''The Spinoff'' reported that she had met and interviewed the Dutch far right politician

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a memb ...

and attended the Vienna leg of the Better Way Conference, an international gathering of conspiracy theorists. Baker also visited Ukraine including

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

to cover the

for the media group she was working for. In December 2022, Baker and her media company Operation People co-produced a documentary with film studio Heanna Gain called ''We Came Here For Freedom Part I''. The documentary looked at the events of 2022 Wellington protest from the perspective of the protesters and was written and directed by Alistair Harding. The second part was released in July and August 2023.

Reality Check Radio

In March 2023, Baker became a host on anti-vaccination group

Voices for Freedom TJB 2021 Limited, trading as Voices for Freedom (VFF), is an anti-vaccine advocacy group in New Zealand that formed in December 2020 to oppose the New Zealand Government's COVID-19 mitigation policies and vaccination rollout. The organisation ...

's online radio station Reality Check Radio (RCR).

Litigation

In 2024, Canadian-New Zealander billionaire

Jim Grenon James Terrence Omer Grenon is a Canadian-New Zealand private equity investor and billionaire, who is the founder of Canadian investment company Tom Capital Management and director of the media company New Zealand Media and Entertainment. He also o ...

's online publication ''The Centrist'' supported Baker's defamation lawsuit against ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

'' and

The Disinformation Project The Disinformation Project was a research group studying the effects of disinformation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. The research group was established in 2020 to combat disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic but ...

researcher Kate Hannah. ''The Herald'' had published an article by David Fisher on 9 April 2023 which Baker considered defamatory and untrue. On 30 September 2024, ''The Herald'' settled with Baker out of court for an undisclosed sum. With the support of The Centrist, Baker has also pursued legal action against media company

for alleged defamation in its 2022 documentary ''Fire and Fury''. On 21 May 2025, Stuff applied for security costs in Baker's defamation suit at the Wellington High Court in order to ensure that the plaintiff is able to pay costs to the defendant if their legal action is unsuccessful. On 12 June 2025, Associate Judge Peter Skelton ordered Baker to pay a total bond of NZ$100,000 leading up to her defamation case against Stuff.

Personal life

Baker has a child. In July 2024, Baker was allegedly intimidated by two women during a

road rage Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior exhibited by people driving a vehicle. These behaviors include rude and verbal insults, yelling, physical threats or dangerous driving methods targeted at other drivers, pedestrians, or cyclists in an ...

incident in

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury Region, Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the ...

, who damaged her car windscreen and attempted to force their way into her car. Baker shared footage of the incident on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. Police confirmed they had received reports and were investigating the incident. As of June 2025, Baker was reportedly living in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

's Gold Coast region.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Chantelle Living people New Zealand women activists Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand anti-vaccination activists COVID-19 conspiracy theorists New Zealand conspiracy theorists