Eliot Higgins

Charlie Warzel speaks with Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and an expert in open-source investigations. They discuss how disordered discourse threatens democracy, with algorithms fostering outrage and fractured realities. Higgins shares his journey from online forums to Bellingcat, emphasizing the importance of verification, deliberation, and accountability in democratic processes. He warns about the US's drift toward a simulated democracy, while advocating for grassroots actions, media literacy, and community engagement to restore shared reality and empower informed discourse.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, reveals how ordinary citizens are using open-source intelligence to expose war crimes and misinformation. He shares innovative techniques like geolocation and chronolocation, allowing digital detectives to track military actions from social media. Higgin's work has revealed state-level deceptions, such as Russian involvement in high-profile incidents. He discusses threats Bellingcat faces, including hacking and disinformation, while advocating for the importance of media literacy and citizen journalism.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and open-source investigator, outlines a VDA framework for verification, deliberation, and accountability. Radley Balko, author and policing critic, draws parallels between modern federal operations and the Boston Massacre. Brandy Zadrozny, reporter on extremism, describes far-right creators shaping narratives at Minneapolis protests and how bystander video changed the story.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and open-source investigation pioneer, and Dr Claire Wardle, Cornell information ecosystems expert and co-founder of First Draft News, discuss the rise of verification practices. They explore early OSINT community building, geolocation and forensic techniques, the 2016 inflection, funding and sustainability, AI’s threat to trust, platform tensions, and the future of community-led verification.

Exploring the disinformation war in the Middle East, from fake war footage to denialism. Experts dissect tactics like misattributed images and recycled content. Impact on vulnerable populations highlighted, emphasizing the danger of misinformation during conflicts.

Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, dives into the murky waters of misinformation in this enlightening conversation. He explores how political narratives can distort truth and erode trust in democracy. Discussing the delicate differences between misinformation and disinformation, Higgins emphasizes their impact on societal divides. He offers insights into the strategies of state actors, particularly Russia, in manipulating narratives. The dialogue also touches on the vital need for media literacy and rebuilding trust in democratic institutions to combat the rising tide of deceit.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and expert in open‑source geolocation, explains how his team traced a four‑second clip to a strike site. He discusses satellite imagery showing multiple craters. He describes visual clues used to identify a Tomahawk missile. He reflects on challenges of independent verification amid limited access and political pressure.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and pioneer of open-source verification, discusses verifying events with multiple videos and data sources. He covers syncing footage, triangulation methods like satellite and metadata, how bad actors exploit tools, clashes with traditional journalism, platform provenance limits, and the personal risks and funding pressures of investigative work.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and open-source journalism advocate, dives into the critical fight against misinformation online. He emphasizes the urgent need for transparency and trustworthy media, as conspiracy theories proliferate in a fractured information landscape. Higgins discusses the shifting responsibility of information verification from institutions to individuals and stresses the need for grassroots efforts to rebuild trust in public institutions. He calls for a revival of local media and the importance of community engagement in fostering informed democracies.

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, discusses how open source investigations helped uncover the truth behind MH17 crash and Russian involvement in Ukraine. He emphasizes empowering individuals with truth amid a sea of misinformation, calling for a shift in how we engage with information online.