1192: Eliot Higgins | The Digital Detectives Making Dictators Sweat

Ordinary citizens are solving war crimes with Google Maps and Twitter. Here, Bellingcat's Eliot Higgins reveals how anyone can become a digital detective! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1192 What We Discuss with Eliot Higgins: Bellingcat, the investigative journalism group founded by Eliot Higgins, pioneered open source investigations using publicly available data — social media posts, satellite imagery, and online databases — to uncover war crimes, assassinations, and state-level deception that traditional journalism missed. Bellingcat's techniques include geolocation (matching video backgrounds to satellite imagery), chronolocation (using shadows to determine time), and "fingerprinting" military equipment by unique damage patterns to track movements across borders. Bellingcat's major investigations exposed Russian involvement in MH17 downing, identified GRU agents in Skripal poisoning through passport/phone metadata, and mapped entire Russian military units from soldiers' social media posts during Ukraine operations. Bellingcat faces serious threats — Russian surveillance, hacking attempts, disinformation campaigns, and even kidnapping plots — while being falsely labeled as CIA fronts to discredit its independent verification work. Anyone can learn open source investigation through Bellingcat's free resources , Discord community of 40,000 members, YouTube tutorials, and volunteer programs — proving that citizen journalism can hold powerful actors accountable. And much more... And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps! Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course ! Subscribe to our once-a-week Wee Bit Wiser newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom! Do you even Reddit, bro? Join us at r/JordanHarbinger ! This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors : Saily: 15% off: saily.com/jordanharbinger, code JORDANHARBINGER IDEO U: 15% off: ideou.com/jhs Homes.com: Find your home: homes.com Progressive: Free online quote: progressive.com BetterHelp: 10% off first month: betterhelp.com/jordan See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .