I don't really agree that Brave should not be used because of a toxic fanbase.
I think the best reason not to use Brave is that they are a marketing/advertising company that claims to give their users privacy. Advertising companies will always have an incentive to invade privacy as it increase add revenues. Brave is just copying Google's business model with extra steps.
It might be a good idea for journalists and other targeted people to have multiple burner phones for different activities.
That way if your personal device is infected itnisnkess likely to compromise your human rights work.
You would probably want to turn off any phone you are not using as they are able to access the camera and mic.