[8] In 2011, Bryson was active in a campaign against North Down Borough Council's allocation of Peace III funding, through which he met with Martin McGuinness.
[9] Early in 2012, he was convicted of carrying an extendible baton, which he stated was to protect himself from drug dealers angered by his role as a community activist.
[10] At the end of 2012 Bryson, serving for a time as chair of the Ulster People's Forum, became a leading figure in the Belfast City Hall flag protests.
[20] In March 2015 Bryson was found guilty of taking part in unlawful public processions and obstructing traffic due to his role in the protests [21] and given a six-month suspended jail sentence.
[22] Bryson has drawn condemnation for various comments made regarding the Ulster Volunteer Force (a paramilitary organisation proscribed as a terror group in the United Kingdom),[23] including claiming that they were "patriots that defended us",[24] that they were not terrorists,[25][26] and that UVF flags erected in housing estates were "perfectly lawful UVF commemorative flags".
[27] He has also said that Brian Robinson, a member of the UVF who was shot dead by the British Army in Belfast shortly after killing a Catholic civilian, was "murdered by the State he fought to defend.
Bryson did not comply with the police bail conditions, publishing a video online and giving newspaper interviews arguing that his arrest had nothing to do with any UVF activity, but rather was only in connection with an investigation by a regulatory body in relation to a door supervisory business.
[33] In 2018, Bryson launched High Court action against the PSNI and the Security Industry Authority claiming the seizure of material was unlawful and arguing that, because he was a journalist, a different legal processes should have been followed to allow his home to be searched.
[37] In April 2022 at a rally held in Newbuildings in County Londonderry in opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, attended by Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister, Bryson warned dissident republicans that any "attack" on his community "would have significant, and ultimately unwanted consequences, but consequences nonetheless".
Bryson was responding to a threat against "loyalist leadership figures" issued by dissident group Óglaigh na hÉireann in the wake of recent "UVF and UDA" activity.
In January 2022 Bryson thanked Hoey and TUV leader Jim Allister for assisting him in a legal challenge to confirm whether the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had intelligence linking him to the UVF.
[40] Bryson initially put himself forward for the European elections in 2014 as an independent candidate but failed to raise the funds (£5,000) for the deposit necessary for him to stand.
The meeting was called to discuss a proposal to bring the DUP back into power-sharing government and the party had gone to great lengths to ensure that the proceedings remained private.