What does “military power” really mean—and how do the logistics of war shape it? We spoke with Oxus Society’s Michael Hilliard on mapping Central Asia’s armed forces. Listen on Stage Talks with Bellingcat: rss.com/podcasts/bel...

Join us live in one hour! Link below 👇

We mapped Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois with @evidentmedia.org. A federal judge will hold a hearing today (November 5th) on whether a temporary restraining order restricting crowd-control tactics in Illinois should be converted into a preliminary injunction. youtube.com/shorts/HKXEY...

Social media footage and satellite imagery show killings as Rapid Support Forces took over Al Fashir (El Fasher). Bellingcat geolocated one incident on the city’s outskirts and showed it to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/11...

How do experts measure military power? 🪖 Michael Hilliard is the Director of Defence & Security Analysis for the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs. Join us on Thursday, 5pm CET/11am EST, as we unpack their work mapping the armed forces of Central Asia. 🎧 discord.gg/bellingcat?e...

Think you’ve mastered geolocations? Let’s try it in 3D. This month’s Bellingcat Challenge adds a whole new dimension challenge.bellingcat.com

New hiring opportunity from Bellingcat US www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3518

Children tear-gassed. Teenagers tackled to the ground. Bellingcat analysed footage of clashes between federal officers and civilians after a judge issued a restraining order on crowd-control tactics in Illinois: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

Bellingcat has geolocated footage of a mass killing outside the recently captured Sudanese city of El Fasher. In the video, which has circulated widely online, RSF commander Abu Lulu can be seen firing his weapon at what appears to be ten unarmed men sitting on the ground. Image: @vantortech

New Fighting Matters! FASHION, FITNESS, FIGHTING: HOW HATE GROUPS ATTRACT YOUNG MEN In this episode, Steve Kwan sits down with journalist @colborne.bsky.social of @bellingcat.com to expose how far-right movements use aesthetics and martial arts culture to recruit young men. youtu.be/lpSN4lNn_IM

How did one former political hopeful go to helping Russian Neo-Nazi group Rusich sell its online merch? Listen in to researcher Youri van der Weide as he goes behind the scenes of his latest investigation. Exclusive to Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/how-fo...

A man sits before a pit of the dead. Nazi soldiers surround him—one aims a gun at his head. For decades, no one knew who they were or where this photo was taken. Now, new digital tools and help from our community may finally reveal the truth behind this haunting Holocaust image🧵

We identified another Russian vessel that disabled its location data while smuggling grain from occupied Ukraine to Yemen. Learn how we used photographs, satellite imagery, and ship-tracking data, to uncover its covert voyage. www.youtube.com/shorts/OrTUa...

What role does fashion play in far-right movements? Bellingcat researchers joined our Stage Talk series this week to explore how far-right movements utilise style and symbols to convey their message. Listen back by searching "Stage Talks with Bellingcat" rss.com/podcasts/bel...

Read the investigation? Now interested in the capabilities of ship tracking and satellite imagery? 🚢 Our community in Discord are actively following investigations on suspicious ships in our popular #maritime channel here: discord.com/channels/709...

New satellite images show the scale of demolition that has occurred on the East Wing of the White House in less than a month.

Another Russian ship has been added to the grain smuggling fleet, captured on camera and on satellite imagery, evading sanctions to deliver grain from occupied Crimea to Houthi-controlled Yemen. Follow its covert journey here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

I've been working with Demos to turn the Verification, Deliberation, and Accountability (VDA) Framework into a report that lays out how it can be used to diagnose the state of democracy and build solutions around building the capacity for those functions in institutional and public spaces.

Online merch isn’t just fandom — it’s financing. Enjoyed reading our latest article? Tomorrow we’re unpacking how groups like Rusich use merchandise sales to bankroll far-right and paramilitary activity. Join the discussion live at 5pm CEST / 11am EDT: discord.gg/hSRQ9RpQ?eve...

Are you familiar with our Bellingcat toolkit? Its a resource to discover open source tools and learn what could be useful for your research. bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit

From opposing Putin to raising funds for a neo-Nazi paramilitary group, this is the digital footprint of one Russian man with a shifting political ideology. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

👕 What happens when fashion goes extremist? Join Bellingcat’s @colborne.bsky.social & Youri van der Weide as they trace far-right brands, symbols & the people behind them, Thursday at 5pm CEST/11am EDT. Ask your own questions live: discord.gg/hSRQ9RpQ?eve...

Last week, we revealed the scale of wildfires that tore through one of Africa’s largest nature reserves. 🌍🔥 www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10... Now, we’re detailing how our team uncovered the story — and the open-source tools that made it possible. 🧵

🧰 Investigating China? @bellingcat.com has compiled a comprehensive list of open source tools and resources, from mapping platforms to media archives, to support your research. Explore the toolkit here:

Bellingcat offers a variety of workshops designed to sharpen your online investigation skills. Want to learn how to verify online claims, or gather data through web scraping? Check out our upcoming online workshops and webinars. Make sure to sign up! ⬇️

We're going live in 30 minutes! And the creator of this month's challenges @tomi-mcc.bsky.social will also be joining us 🎉https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOQc2sdgTC8

tune in to hear me make numerous bad nautical puns. suggestions welcome.

This week, Bellingcat's @colborne.bsky.social will tackle the Bellingcat Challenge live. Michael is used to mapping the movements of the transnational far-right; let’s see how he handles mapping the movements of ships... Help him out on Wednesday, 5pm CEST/11am EDT: www.youtube.com/live/dOQc2sd...

Universities teach journalism, law, even coding — so why not open-source research? We spoke with @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social 's Open-Source Global Justice Investigations Lab about bringing investigation skills into the classroom. 🎧 Listen on Stage Talks with Bellingcat: rss.com/podcasts/bel...

Join us in one hour's time as we discuss the role of universities and the open source research community in tackling misinformation discord.gg/bellingcat?e...

Satellite analysis by Bellingcat found that wildfires destroyed over a third of Namibia’s most visited wildlife reserve last month, impacting crucial grazing lands for endangered species, including black rhinos and elephants. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

Had both the great privilege and some great fun developing some maritime OSINT challenges for the fine folks at @bellingcat.com ! Huge appreciation for their work and other investigative outlets telling the important stories happening on our oceans.

Smuggling routes, illegal fishing operations, and shadow fleets. There’s loads going on at sea. Try to track some ships yourself, this month in the Bellingcat Open Source Challenge. Find the exercises, created by our volunteer @tomi-mcc.bsky.social, here: challenge.bellingcat.com

Universities may hold the key to fighting misinformation... On Thursday we speak to @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social about their Open-Source Global Justice Investigations Lab discussing how the lab is building critical thinking skills and leading to headline stories. discord.gg/bellingcat?e...

We’ve got two newsletters to keep you connected with Bellingcat and open-source research. One takes you into our work at Bellingcat, while the other lets you put your own research skills to the test. Sign up for the one that fits you best via the links in the thread below 👇

Our researchers have noticed today that NASA FIRMS, one of the main free and available open source sites for monitoring fires around the world has a new notice on it stating that NASA is no longer updating the site due to a lack in federal funding. firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/

We're happy to see that this important project covering the plight of journalists in Gaza has been recognised with an award. You can read Bellingcat's contribution here, which includes explorable 3D models of Jabalia Refugee Camp and Al-Shati Refugee Camp. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/03...

Can LLMs identify where a photo was taken? And how accurate are they? We put some AI models to the test... www.youtube.com/shorts/tUBm4...

These towers surround Gaza's Roman Cemetery — an ancient intact burial site with 125 tombs that was discovered in 2022. @premiereurgenceint.bsky.social worked on the site before the war: www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/07/26/r... Can see the site in a video from 2023: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VStQ...

A small plane crashed in Brazil recently; amongst the wreckage was the body of a former Melbourne stockbroker and 200kg of cocaine. Bellingcat and @thetimes.com reveal how the deceased Australian pilot was linked to an associate of the notorious Kinahan cartel: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/09...

From false flags to fake insurance, in our latest Stage Talk we learnt that there's many warning signs that indicate a ship may be up to no good. You can listen back to our conversation with @pa.nton.cx on tracking vessels by searching 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat'. rss.com/podcasts/bel...

Want to learn about suspicious ships operating in international waters? We're live now with @pa.nton.cx in our Discord Server: discord.gg/bellingcat?e...

Our revamped toolkit page is one year old today! The toolkit helps researchers and journalists across the world do impactful work. Maintaining it with up-to-date entries and guides is a huge effort from our staff and volunteers. You can help us keep it up by donating: www.bellingcat.com/donate/

Our new and improved Bellingcat Toolkit is one-year-old today! If you haven't used it yet its a one-stop shop for discovering useful open source tools, maintained by an amazing group of volunteers. You can find use cases, guidance and honest reviews for each tool. bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit

Our researcher @koltai.bsky.social has been investigating sites advertising non-consensual AI porn for some time. She recently spoke to @newamerica.org about her work for their recent report on the use of this imagery as a threat against women in politics.

How do you track vessels with shady ownership structures and a suspicious tendency to turn off their tracking signals? This week's Stage Talk guest @pa.nton.cx built a resource to help monitor ships that require further investigation. Join us Thursday, 5pm CEST/11am EDT: discord.gg/NaWDNGrF?eve...

It is a good time to learn how to find accurate information online. We’re offering virtual training sessions over the month of October, teaching you Bellingcat’s investigative techniques…

Recently @eliothiggins.bsky.social appeared on the Democracy For Sale podcast discussing how our information ecosystem is breaking and what steps we could take to rebuild it: youtu.be/ZPSvAS2W3cc?...

@bellingcat.com CEO @eliothiggins.bsky.social on how some political movements build coalitions of conspiracy believers to gain power. From the Democracy for Sale podcast. youtu.be/3UBDa3SKB0I

Israeli forces continue to push into Gaza City, but in recent days important historical and cultural sites have also been further damaged by IDF operations across Gaza. Many of these sites held unexplored archaeological data that could now be lost 🧵