People like to have secrets and special sources. We’re more like: Here’s everything
As Vladimir Putin clamps down on protesters, we speak to –
To Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny they are a “modern-day Sherlock Holmes” for exposing how the Kremlin allegedly poisoned him. To despots and dictators, they are a thorn in the flesh as their sleuthing reveals evidence of terrible crimes.
To supporters, however, the Bellingcat website investigators, led by founder Eliot Higgins, are shining a light on the world’s darkest corners.
Bellingcat, dubbed “an “intelligence agency for the people,” have deployed opensource
intelligence (OSI), information freely available on social media, smartphones and the web to expose everything from locating terrorist training camps to revealing statesponsored crime and human rights atrocities. They even found a lost dog.
The site’s most spectacular successes include identifying the two Russian agents behind the Salisbury poisonings, detailing what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and proving Syrian leader Bashar al-assad used chemical weapons on his own people.
Higgins has detailed the organisation’s work in a book, We Are Bellingcat. It charts the journey from his blog to an acclaimed investigative force, making enemies at the highest level of governments around the world. “It’s about information based purely on evidence that can inform people about what’s happening in the world,” Higgins explains.
“We involve the people in the process itself and produce a product they can see and understand, not just a bunch of information being leaked out randomly or us saying we have a source and you can trust us.”
Bellingcat grew from Higgins’ obsession with current affairs, particularly during the Arab Spring in 2011. While working in admin, he was a regular blogger under the name Brown Moses, sharing information he’d found online.
“I was frustrated about how the conflict in Libya had been reported on when there was such a vast amount of OSI. I could see a use for it,” he said.
“I was always writing for myself, never for an audience, and was frustrated that bloggers were using this material for conspiracy theories, making huge leaps of logic.
“I accidentally stumbled into quite big stories. It grew, and I gained a decent reputation among journalists and other people in the community. I just wanted a site where people could post articles and learn how to do investigations.
“It was about building a community of people who could research and investigate.”
That sense of collaboration has become core to Bellingcat, as well as their founding idea of “identify, verify and amplify.”
Higgins added: “It’s quite unusual to show exactly how you’re doing stuff and where all the information is. People like to have their secrets and their special sources, but we’re like: ‘Here’s everything.’”
Bellingcat’s work came to international attention following the downing of MH17 in 2014, in which 298 people died. They figured out that it had been hit by a Russian Buk missile by looking through images posted online and mapping. They also found its deployment involved senior Russian officials.
Higgins said: “It was a proud moment for us in 2016 when the team investigating MH17 gave a press conference.
“It was a scary moment as we were a bit worried they
might disagree with us, but they agreed with everything we were saying. That was big for Bellingcat and OSI as a whole as it then led a lot more people to take it more seriously.
“They saw that our work had been validated by an official investigation, and that OSI was a real thing that worked and not just kind of a magic trick.”
Using similar methods, they unveiled the identity of one of the two suspects in the poisoning of the Skripals.
They also uncovered evidence showing Moscow’s
FSB security service targeting Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and opponent of Vladimir Putin, who survived a Novichok poisoning.
All of these discoveries came from hours of pouring through information online. This could be finding connections between people on social media, sketching out a map of military movements seen on a Youtube clip, or matching satellite imagery to pictures posted to Twitter to determine an exact location and times.
Often, the material can be
traumatic. The Bellingcat team were exposed to countless images and videos of chemical attacks in Syria, and Higgins recalled his distress at finding a toy his daughter has a version of in the wreckage of MH17.
“We’re always very aware of issues like vicarious trauma,” he said of looking out for his fellow investigators. “Syria has produced a lot of horrific material, we’re very careful that they’re not overexposed.
“It can sometimes be easy to see a link and click on it without really thinking about
Bellingcat’s name is inspired by the fable of the mice who planned to put a bell on a feline tormentor so they could plot its movements and how their plan was fine until it came to finding a volunteer to carry it out. It supplied a nickname for Scots nobleman Archibald Douglas. In 1482, at a meeting plotting against James III’S adviser, Robert Cochrane, Lord Gray said “Tis well said, but wha daur bell the cat?” Douglas, the Earl of Angus, accepted the challenge and was known as Archie Bell-the-cat.
the impact it’s going to have on you. You don’t need that in your brain. Once it’s in there, that’s the kind of stuff you don’t forget after you see.”
For Bellingcat, fighting falsehoods has become as vital as showing the facts.
A striking example of the power of misinformation manifested on January 6, as supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol. “The events in Washington showed how dangerous it can be,” Higgins said. “It could be a fundamental threat to society if we don’t take it seriously. In the US, people got really into a forum post, built an entire alternative universe around it, and managed to convince thousands of people it was real.
“The Republican party started leaning into it and that’s the danger, where mainstream discourse starts using paranoid conspiracy theories looking for that extra bit of power, that extra vote. Once you abandon the truth in the pursuit of power, then we’re completely screwed as a society.”
With all that Bellingcat has uncovered and the powerful forces involved, Higgins has received countless anonymous threats online, and the group have experienced a number of cyberattacks.
But, at home in Leicester, he remains unfazed, more worried about the potential actions of an individual rather than a state, and taking Russian interference in their work as a compliment.
“It shows it does matter to them that we’re doing this stuff. They might say we’re working for the CIA or MI5 but ultimately, they’re worried about what we’re doing. It’s the best advertising when Russia Today, Sputnik or some official has a go at us. It shows we’re doing something right in most people’s eyes.
“I know the positive impact our work is having and that there are some things that are bigger than your own personal fears and safety. It’s not great, but if you can’t stand up, you’re sitting doing nothing.”
And the work is not always about big conspiracies and Russian hit squads. “You can have influence big and small,” Higgins said. “Last year I helped find a dog that was stolen, using a number plate analysis technique we’d previously used in murders. It was a few hours work, a nice thing to do.
“On the other side of the scale we’ve got a huge amount of work on Russian assassinations. We were told by journalists on the ground in Russia that protestors were on the streets as a direct consequence of our investigation into the poisoning of Navalny.
“It’s nice to help people who have had their dogs stolen, it’s a positive impact.
“This is why when I talk about building communities, it’s not just about hunting Russian spies, it’s about having a positive impact on a more personal level sometimes. That counts for something.”