Lord Miles

About

Miles Routledge, better known as Lord Miles, is a 21-year-old British student who travelled to Afghanistan during the events of the 2021 Taliban offensive and was actively reporting his situation on 4chan and Twitch. Posts made by Routledge went viral on social media in mid-August 2021. In March 2023, a rumor spread that Lord Miles was missing. The rumor was snowballed after the Taliban's Twitter account @TalibanPRD tweeted a selfie with Miles and stated that they "lost contact" with their "beloved brother." In late 2023, rumors about Lord Miles being dead surfaced online following posts on his official Twitter / X account from a purported friend who claimed that Routledge was in prison but thriving. Humorous discourse and rumors about a Taliban beheading execution video surfaced in October 2023.

Online History

On August 13th, 2021, during the events of the 2021 Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, an anonymous 4chan^[1] user started an "ask me anything" thread in the /trv/ board of the website, writing that he was in Afghanistan and posting a photograph of himself (post and photograph shown below, left and right).

In the thread,^[2] the poster revealed their full name, Miles Arthur Le-Vesconte Routledge, writing that his profile can be found on Facebook.^[3] In a May 5th, 2021, post, Routledge wrote that he booked a flight to Afghanistan (screenshot shown below, left).

In the /trv/ thread, Miles wrote that he arrived in Afghanistan for a five-day trip, adding that he doesn't believe the capital will be taken in that period. In the thread, Miles answered questions made by other users, explaining that he was a student at Loughborough University and that he came to the country after googling the 10 most dangerous countries in the world and deciding to visit them all (thread screenshots shown below, center and right).

Also in the same thread,^[4] Miles wrote that in all his bank cards he has "lord" as a term of address after tricking his bank into doing it, and expressed hope that this would provide him negotiating power in the event of capture (post and photograph shown below, left and right). After the post, multiple users in the thread referred to Miles as "Lord Miles," spawning the nickname.

On August 14th, 15th and 16th, Miles started daily threads on 4chan's^[5][6][7] /trv/ board in which he reported on his current situation (screenshots shown below). In the August 14th thread,^[8] Miles claimed that he was living in a safe house located in the center of Kabul within a five-minute walking distance from an embassy.

On August 15th, Miles did an eight-minute live broadcast on Facebook, which was restreamed to Twitch^[9] by an unknown user, in which he answered questions from chat (YouTube reupload shown below).

People send me these copypastas that are obviously dark, but they don't understand: I've literally been on 4chan and iFunny since the age of 12 or 13. So this stuff doesn't phase me. I kind of just thought I'm gonna be killed by the Taliban, fair enough. And you think sending your copypasta about someone hanging himself is going to be dodgy. It's cool. You're not going to touch me, you're not going to affect me in any way. I'm literally too based for it. […]
"Do the Taliban accept femboys?" No, obviously, they just kill you on the spot.[…]
"Glow?" I'm not a fed. Trust me, I'm definitely on a few watchlists right now, but I'm not a fed.

Rescue

On August 16th, 2021, Miles wrote on his Facebook^[14][15] that he was evacuated to a new safe house with approximately 100 other civilians, later writing that he was put on a list for a Dubai flight within a few hours. On August 17th, Miles posted^[16] a video of himself inside an aircraft with other people, writing that he landed in Dubai (video shown below).

Media Interest

On August 15th, Twitter^[10] user @Rimmy_Downunder posted four screenshots from Miles' /trv/ threads, writing, "there's currently a British guy called Lord Miles in Kabul having a wonderful time." The post received over 12,400 retweets and 76,600 likes in one day.

Later on the same day, The Times^[11] posted an interview with Routledge, in which he answered that he has "accepted death."

In the following days, more news outlets reported on Miles' online posts,^[12][13] while more viral posts about Miles were made on social media. The news of Miles' successful rescue to Dubai alongside other British nationals also received coverage.^[17]

On August 19th, 2021, YouTuber^[17] CountDankula uploaded an interview with Miles Routledge (shown below).

Lord Miles Missing Rumors in March 2023

On February 23rd, 2023, Lord Miles uploaded a YouTube^[19] video in which he went to Snake Island in Brazil. The video received roughly 182,600 views in three weeks. Around the saIn me time, on February 27th, 2023, Lord Miles posted a tweet^[20] that received roughly 2,600 likes in 17 days.

Going into early 2023, Lord Miles' social media presence stopped, which to his fans, read as unusual and worrisome. Some within the YouTuber's Discord server started to purport that he'd been missing since Thursday, March 2nd, 2023. A related screenshot was uploaded to Twitter^[21] by user @fuggyfugger on March 7th, gaining over 70 likes in nine days (shown below).

On March 15th, 2023, the Twitter^[22] account for "Taliban Public Relations Department Commentary" @TalibanPRD tweeted a selfie with Lord Miles. The tweet stated:

It's with great sorrow to announce that we have lost contact with our beloved brother @real_lord_miles. His last known sighting was in eastern Afghanistan on the 6th of march. We are doing all we can to locate him. The foreign ministry has informed the UK embassy, Islamabad.

Over the course of one day, the tweet received roughly 14,600 likes (shown below, left). The post inspired viral discourse about Lord Miles' whereabouts. For instance, on March 15th, Twitter^[23] user @Shadzey1 posted a tweet in which they admitted that they couldn't tell if it was trolling or not, earning roughly 4,800 likes in one day (shown below, right).

2023 Imprisonment, Death And Execution Video Rumors

Starting in July 2023 and continuing into September and October 2023, rumors about Lord Miles being dead surfaced online following posts shared on his Twitter/X^[24][25] account, posted by an alleged friend of Miles who purported that he was imprisoned but thriving. The posts led to skepticism that predominantly manifested in early October 2023, including rumors about a beheading execution video.

Search Interest

External References