The website originated from a Facebook page set up in June 2009 by Tipperary-native Colm Williamson, who became unemployed after moving from Dublin to Tramore in Waterford just before the Irish economic downturn.

[8] In 2015, when discussing the Denis O'Brien article, Williamson noted that unlike physical newspapers, purely online sites have the ability to take down a story when issued with a "cease and desist" notice from a law firm.

[18] In May 2015, the site gained further international notoriety with the headline: Dozens Injured In Stampede After Second Checkout In Lidl Opens, which was mistaken by German magazine, Focus, as genuine.

[19][20] Focus magazine ran the story as "Customers trigger mass panic in Lidl outlet", however they retracted the article stating: "An earlier version lacked the info that it was satire".

[10][22] Williamson tweeted an image of the letter that was sent to him from Meagher Solicitors, and which was addressed to the website's publishers Whispers Media Ltd.[1] Willamson described the affair as an example of the Streisand Effect, and that "The whole thing went crazy.

[25] In May 2014, WWN announced that it had appointed an Irish media agency to manage its advertising business, having previously relied on Google's AdSense program for revenue.

[16] In November 2018, in an interview with Sunday Business Post, Williamson said that Facebook's new anti-fake news measures had halved WWN traffic and would cause the site to lose money in 2019.