On numerous occasions, King has faced accusations of fiscal mismanagement and of raising money from donors that does not reach its intended recipients.

[4][5][6] In addition, the Grassroots Law Project has been questioned for its high compensation paid to King and his associates, as well as its lack of progress on its main initiative.

[17] King later said that a second assault occurred, wherein "a dozen self-described 'rednecks'" beat him, and claimed the injuries caused him to miss a portion of two years of high school due to multiple spinal surgeries.

[24][25] After graduation, King was a high school civics teacher for about a year and then worked in Atlanta's juvenile justice system.

[17] King left teaching and worked as a pastor at Total Grace Christian Center in DeKalb County, Georgia.

[28] King has written extensively about his experiences as a biracial person,[14] as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained prominence during the events that followed the shooting of Michael Brown.

[citation needed] Shaun wrote an article analyzing the Brown crime scene, and argued that the evidence suggested that officer Darren Wilson's life was not in danger during the shooting.

[35][36][37] In 2019, King launched the crowdfunded website The North Star, calling it an online “revival” of the anti-slavery newspaper of the same name, claiming that he had the support of the relatives of Frederick Douglass (the original paper's editor).

The site has articles, podcast episodes, and videos for a subscription fee,[38][39][40] with a focus on social justice issues, including police brutality and mass incarceration.

After leaving The North Star, historian and former editor-in-chief Keisha Blain accused King via Twitter of being "a liar & a fraud", stating that she was prevented from saying as much because of a non-disclosure agreement.

[5] In August 2015, King launched Justice Together, an organization to identify police brutality and lobby local politicians for change.

[48][49] In an October 11, 2017, article in The Washington Post, King was credited with leading a successful months-long and far-reaching social media campaign which led to the identification and arrest of three of the men behind the August 12, 2017, assault on DeAndre Harris during the Unite the Right rally.

On May 20, 2018, King accused a white Texas state trooper of sexually assaulting Sherita Dixon-Cole, a Black human resources professional.

[60][61] Police credited King with providing a tip that helped lead them to suspect Eric Black Jr., who later admitted he was involved in the shooting.

[59][62][63] On Twitter, King initially posted the mugshot of a white male, Robert Paul Cantrell, who he identified as involved in the shooting.

[64] The incident was revived in late July 2019 when Cantrell committed suicide in his jail cell, where he was being held on separate robbery and evasion charges.

Just before he died, he allegedly told his lawyer that he was concerned about the death threats his family was still receiving in the aftermath of false claims of his involvement in Jazmine Barnes’ murder.

[65] King has repeatedly faced accusations from colleagues and fellow activists of raising money for unclear purposes, or overpromising results from fundraising.

"[5] In March 2010, while still a pastor, he founded aHomeinHaiti.org as a subsidiary of Courageous Church and used eBay and Twitter to raise $1.5 million to send tents to Haiti after the country's devastating 2010 earthquake.

[75] King has also raised money for multiple causes incidents where the Black Lives Matter movement has been involved, including the shooting of Tamir Rice.

[84] An investigation by Goldie Taylor of The Daily Beast detailed a variety of questionable financial practices, such as discrepancies in reported amounts raised the Haiti relief project as well as King's personal income from short-lived crowdfunding venture HopeMob numbering almost 40% of the company's total revenue.

[85] On September 12, 2019, Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson wrote a lengthy article raising multiple concerns in regards to King, especially related to fundraising.

On January 15, 2019, he tweeted that he was pursuing legal action against social justice activists on Twitter who questioned his previous fundraisers, and his attorneys later sent cease-and-desist letters.

[87] King wrote an editorial explaining the purpose of taking legal action and addressed some specific critiques levied against him.

[95][96] In 2018, Shaun King expressed disdain for Kamala Harris and said he did not intend to support her or Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries due to their positions on criminal justice.