Bellingcat: By and for Citizen Investigative Journalists

LIVE PODCAST: Reporting on Hidden Networks of Online Abuse- With the CNN team behind the Motherless Investigation

2026-06-08T09:02:59+00:00

How do journalists investigate communities designed to stay hidden?
On Thursday we'll be joined by the CNN team who exposed the Motherless "sleep" community. Together we'll go behind the headlines to explore the risks of reporting in private online spaces.
Join live: https://discord.gg/bellingcat?event=1512461951073124615

If you've not read CNN's investigation yet you can find it here (TW: discussion of sexual assault): https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2026/03/world/expose-rape-assault-online-vis-intl/index.html

Bellingcat records a live podcast every two weeks in our Discord community server. Join live to ask your questions or listen back afterwards on any podcast platform by searching 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat': https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/

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Russia's Ties to the 'Video News Agency of the Global South'

2026-06-04T12:34:53+00:00

A video news agency supplying national press agencies across Africa, Asia and the Middle East appears to be sharing data, backend developer tools, IP addresses and SSL certificates with EU-sanctioned Russian propaganda outlet Russia Today. In key political regions for Russian interests, Viory has agreements with universities, newsrooms and some of the largest journalism bodies such as the African Union of Broadcasting.

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Russian bots have turned him into a deepfake. He avoids travelling to the US over fears he could be on a watchlist. In an interview with Follow the Money, Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins explains why, after years of high-stakes investigations, “the paranoia gets to you”.

2026-06-04T08:50:36+00:00

Read the full interview on Follow The Money: https://www.ftm.eu/articles/bellingcat-head-eliot-higgins-interview

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How Villages in Myanmar Are Being Erased From the Map

2026-06-01T09:02:21+00:00

A new investigation by Bellingcat has identified 115 villages in Rakhine State as partially or completely destroyed. The villages were damaged amid clashes between the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group fighting Myanmar’s military junta for control of Rakhine, and junta forces attempting to maintain their hold on the region. Rakhine State is home to the majority of the Rohingya, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.

Read the full story: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/05/27/the-lost-villages-of-myanmars-rakhine/?utm_source=facebook

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Does this adhere to Bellingcat’s Standards and Practices?

2026-05-29T03:42:17+00:00

>Our researchers will always consider the potential consequences of publication for vulnerable groups or individuals. In certain circumstances, this may require us to balance such concerns with the wider public interest and vice versa.

Longtime Bellingcat supporter here. Is using AI facial rec to send a dissident to prison for crimes committed over 30 years ago—in which no one was physically harmed—considered to be “in the public interest”????

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Bellingcat Identifies 115 Villages Damaged or Destroyed Since Myanmar Military Coup

2026-05-27T10:22:30+00:00

A new investigation by Bellingcat has identified 115 villages in Rakhine State as partially or completely destroyed since the February 2021 military coup that overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government.

Rakhine State is home to the majority of the Rohingya, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.

Steve Ross, Senior Fellow at the US nonprofit Stimson Center who is leading the 'Crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State' project, told Bellingcat that removing villages from the map is part of the government's broader campaign to deny the existence of the Rohingya and erase identity in Rakhine.

Read the full story: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/05/27/the-lost-villages-of-myanmars-rakhine/?utm_source=reddit

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Banned Russian Submunitions Found After Mali's Military Announces Airstrikes

2026-05-26T17:22:57+00:00

Footage analysed by Bellingcat and Jeune Afrique shows unexploded Russian-made cluster munition bomblets found in northern Mali - Despite Mali being a state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) which prohibits their use. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/2026/05/26/banned-russian-submunitions-found-after-malis-military-announces-airstrikes/?utm_source=reddit

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LIVE PODCAST RECORDING: Monitoring Violence In Myanmar (with Pooja Chaudhuri)

2026-05-22T13:51:53+00:00

Where reporting carries major safety risks, how can open-source analysis reveal what’s happening on the ground? In our next Stage Talk, Bellingcat researcher Pooja Chaudhuri shares how she monitors and verifies claims of violence in Myanmar. Join us live on Thursday in our Discord server: https://discord.gg/EjgxVKgv?event=1507374229585264760

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How We Verified Deadly Landslides in DRC Mines

2026-05-20T15:00:03+00:00

Since the beginning of 2026, at least four landslides have reportedly killed hundreds of people at the Rubaya mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The mines are a major global source of coltan which iswidely used in smartphones, laptops and e-vehicles. Read more: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/2026/05/12/congos-coltan-belt-verifying-deadly-landslides-at-mines-under-m23-control/?utm_source=reddit

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Help shape the future of open source investigation

2026-05-17T18:22:49+00:00

As a nonprofit, Bellingcat’s strength is our collective. We are seeking feedback from the broader investigative and research community to help us refine our reporting and partnership models. Your anonymous input is greatly appreciated. Please consider taking our 5 minute survey: https://bellingcat.questionpro.eu/t/AB3vDHmZB3wfUj

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Satellite Imagery Shows Ongoing Demolitions Across Southern Lebanon

2026-05-14T10:08:34+00:00

Satellite imagery shows that at least 46 towns or villages in southern Lebanon have been heavily damaged or, in some cases, entirely flattened by the Israeli Defence Forces. Bellingcat is publishing Planet satellite imagery for the entirety of the south of Lebanon. It shows that much of the demolition and destruction has taken place in recent weeks.
Read the analysis here

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This Group Celebrated Hitler’s Birthday

2026-05-12T09:10:18+00:00

Bellingcat and Cerosetenta have uncovered online links between a Colombian far-right group and a mainstream political figure in the country. Active Club Bogota is the only registered South American branch of the international Active Club movement. In the past two years, the Bogota branch marked Hitler’s birthday with cupcakes and book burnings. Faces are often obscured in Active Club content, but recognisable tattoos have helped Bellingcat and Cerosetenta track a prominent member of AC Bogota, Javier “Orlik” Ruiz, in a video with Colombian political candidate Jorge Rodriguez. Read the full story here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/05/11/active-club-colombia-politics/

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Verifying Deadly Landslides At Mines Under M23 Control

2026-05-12T14:56:31+00:00

Since the beginning of 2026, at least four landslides have reportedly killed hundreds of people at the Rubaya mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a major global source of coltan. Currently under the control of the Rwandan-backed armed rebel group M23, access to the Rubaya mines is restricted for journalists and many NGOs, and the true casualty figures are likely unknown.

Bellingcat used open source methods to examine statements from the authorities and media reports. Bellingcat confirmed several incidents in which villages were engulfed in the landslide and residents living near the mine were among those killed. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/2026/05/12/congos-coltan-belt-verifying-deadly-landslides-at-mines-under-m23-control/?utm_source=reddit

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Unearthing a Colombian Politician’s Connections to Neo-Nazi Active Club Group

2026-05-11T14:56:33+00:00

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LIVE: Tracing Deportation Flights - Bellingcat Stage Talk

2026-05-08T14:42:59+00:00

What can flight data tell us about deportation flights, and where are the limits of public information?
On Thursday journalist and former flight attendant Gillian Brockell guides us through the aviation data, public records, and open-source techniques used to follow immigration operations in the skies. https://discord.gg/bellingcat?event=1502314212075110481

Interested in improving your own flight tracking skills? This month's edition of the Bellingcat Open Source Challenge offers some excellent practice: https://challenge.bellingcat.com/

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New tool to estimate the scale of the damage of the Iran war

2026-05-07T14:36:03+00:00

Amid peace negotiations between Iran and the US, documentation of the war’s impact is ongoing. These efforts have been complicated by internet restrictions and limited access to commercial satellite imagery. Bellingcat's tool helps estimate the scale of the damage.
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2026/04/07/tool-damage-assessment-destruction-sentinel-satellite-imagery-iran-us-gulf/

As a non-profit, Bellingcat relies on the support of kind individual donors to continue building tools and providing research guidance. If you’d like to help sustain our work, you can donate here: www.bellingcat.com/donate/

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New: Bellingcat Open Source Flight Tracking Challenge!

2026-05-04T15:44:04+00:00

Did you know there’s around 100 000 flights worldwide every day? Flight tracking can be a very useful tool for open source investigations. Want to learn how? Researcher Logan Williams put together five exercises to help you explore free and open source tools that you can use to track aircraft on their journeys.

Try this month’s Bellingcat Open Source Challenge: challenge.bellingcat.com

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the challenges! Want to get featured? Make sure to tag us when you share your solutions to last month’s challenges in a blog, video or social post! Sign up here: https://bellingcat-challenges.beehiiv.com/subscribe

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"Navigating Chinese Social Media For Research" with Chu Yang

2026-05-01T13:42:42+00:00

Researcher Chu Yang joined us on this week's Stage Talk to examine China’s leading social media platforms, outlining how they operate and why they matter.

She also shared practical guidance on accessing these platforms from abroad, along with key resources for tracking trends across China and its global diaspora. Listen back by searching 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat' on podcast platforms: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/2785287/

Read Chu's guide to platform Xiaohongshu (otherwise known as Rednote) here: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2026/04/20/xiaohongshu-rednote-open-source-guide/

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OSM location search for geolocating images

2026-04-29T10:24:37+00:00

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Live Talk: Navigating Chinese Social Platforms For Research

2026-04-27T10:16:42+00:00

The Chinese social media landscape can feel unfamiliar and harder to access for research—especially on a foreign device.
On Thursday’s Stage Talk, Chu Yang joins us to explore how these platforms work and how to navigate them from the outside. Join us live: https://discord.gg/Qy4DGB6g?event=1498252458277863455

An analyst and researcher, Chu Yang is experienced in studying Chinese and Iranian digital audiences. She also contributes to the China Media Project and recently wrote a guide on researching on the app Xiaohongshu (Rednote) for Bellingcat. Read it here: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2026/04/20/xiaohongshu-rednote-open-source-guide/

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“Make Iran Ungovernable” – Tracking Efforts To Destroy Iran’s Police Infrastructure

2026-04-24T14:43:58+00:00

New: Bellingcat has identified at least 80 police stations and law enforcement or Basij paramilitary group infrastructure which were damaged or destroyed in the first three weeks of the United States’ and Israel’s strikes on Iran. In response to our findings, experts told Bellingcat that both countries aim to degrade the Iranian regime’s “repressive capacity”.
Read the investigation here

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On Earth Day: environmental investigations can be tough and take time, skills and persistence —but they are possible, and they matter. Here are some tools and resources our team has used in investigations to track wildlife trade, wildfires, and oil spills…

2026-04-22T17:15:08+00:00

The CITES Trade Database holds around 23 million records of wildlife trade since 1975, and allows you to search by country, species, trade type and more. CITES recently highlighted Bellingcat's investigation into a trade operation run from Indonesia: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03/19/how-wildlife-traffickers-are-using-coded-language-to-sell-protected-animals-on-facebook/
The researcher of that article, Foeke Postma, also unpacked the tools he regularly uses to investigate possible illegal wildlife trade in a Bellingcat Stage Talk earlier this month. Listen back to the conversation here: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/
Satellite tools can help clarify wildfire claims. NASA FIRMS shows near real-time hotspots, while the Copernicus Browser visualises how fires impact land over time. We used both to assess reports of a wildfire on a Namibian reserve https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10/07/wildfires-ravage-one-of-africas-largest-nature-reserves/
Our work on oil spills has combined identification guidance from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with satellite analysis tools such as water surface roughness visualisation and oil slick monitoring scripts in the free Sentinel EO Browser. https://www.bellingcat.com/?s=oil+spill
We have a guide on investigating oil spills written by Bellingcat contributor Wim Zwijnenburg here: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2024/08/30/marine-oil-spill-detection-guide/
You can find a full list of environmental tools reviewed by our experienced Toolkit Maintainers here in the Bellingcat Toolkit: https://bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/categories/environment-and-wildlife
And if you’re looking for inspiration: Explore our Environment and Wildlife investigations—from illegal trade to environmental damage here 👇 https://www.bellingcat.com/environment-and-wildlife-investigations-team/

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Mining China’s ‘Little Red Book’ for Open Source Gold

2026-04-20T13:02:57+00:00

Researching China is hard—many foreign sites are blocked, making domestic platforms vital for journalists. Even under tight controls, Chinese apps are the main window into the country. Chu Yang explains in our latest guide how to research the app Xiaohongshu (also known as Little Red Book or Rednote)

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"Synthetic Propaganda - Tracing an AI-Driven Political Operation" with Effie Webb

2026-04-19T13:03:06+00:00

AI-generated content has entered the political sphere. Bellingcat speaks with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporter Effie Webb on a possible first-of-its-kind case—and what it means for tracking AI misuse in politics. Listen by searching 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat' on your preferred podcast platform.

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Painkiller Pipeline: 300 Million Tapentadol Pills Sent from India to West Africa

2026-04-17T13:49:13+00:00

India has exported more than 320 million unapproved synthetic opioid pills to West Africa in just three years. Trade data shows over 1,400 shipments of tapentadol — a potent painkiller — were sent to a region already facing an opioid crisis. Our investigation, with Indian publishing partner Newslaundry, found that more than 50% of the painkillers were high-strength (200mg+), doses not even approved for use in India.
Katherine de Tolly reports: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/04/17/painkiller-pipeline-300-million-tapentadol-pills-sent-from-india-to-west-africa/

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