Algorithms don’t drive the truth

Amol Rajan speaks to Eliot Higgins, founder of the open-source investigative organisation Bellingcat, as the world grapples with the growing threat posed by misinformation and conspiracy theories being deliberately spread online. Founded in 2014, Bellingcat is an independent investigative collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists from around the world.

The organisation uses open-source research methods, which involve analysing publicly-available data that can be accessed and used without any special permissions or restrictions.

It has investigated a variety of subjects of public interest, including the shooting down of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine to police violence in Colombia and the illegal wildlife trade in the UAE.

Higgins argues that the need for organisations like Bellingcat has never been more important, as conspiracy theories flood the internet and some people avoid mainstream news outlets altogether. He believes this is partly down to a lack of trust in institutions, which is subsequently leading to a crisis in democracies all over the world.

Thank you to the Radical with Amol Rajan team for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Amol Rajan Producers: Ben Cooper, Lewis Vickers and Izzy Rowley Editor: Nick Holland

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(Image: Eliot Higgins. Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Eliot Higgins: Algorithms don’t drive the truth

The Interview

Eliot Higgins: Algorithms don’t drive the truth