Eliot Higgins: Algorithms don’t drive the truth

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)