Interview: Eliot Higgins

The founder of the open-source intelligence outlet Bellingcat tells James Orr about Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine and debunking conspiracy theories.

The World Today
3 minute READ

Investigations using open-source intelligence (OSINT) are a distinct contrast to your previous life working in banking and the charitable sector. What prompted the change in direction?

It was really driven by my own interest in having a deeper understanding of the unfolding Arab Spring conflicts. I was very much part of online forums culture, spending a lot of time posting and arguing about events in places like Libya, and time and again you would have someone share a video that supposedly showed this or that, and that would trigger an argument about the validity of the video. 

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