Forum Federato

A remnant left over from the second attack on the flotilla on September 9th, provides further visual confirmation that both attacks were from above, likely by drone, using a thermite or a smoke grenade combined with an incendiary composition, consistent with ones used by the U.S, Ukrainian, and Israeli military.

The largest aid flotilla in history has been attacked twice in two days whilst in port in Tunisia. Open source analysis suggests an incendiary munition is to blame, contradicting officials' statements that the first attack was caused by a “cigarette butt” or “lighter”. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/09/10/incendiary-munitions-strike-gaza-bound-flotilla-two-nights-in-a-row/?utm_source=mastodon

How do you monitor a conflict in a region that is difficult to access and rife with misinformation claims? In this comprehensive guide, we take you through the processes required to identify and verify what is really happening in a conflict, using the recent violent uprisings in Manipur, India as an example. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2025/09/01/a-guide-to-monitoring-conflict-amidst-a-sea-of-misinformation/?utm_source=mastodon

As always, our tools are open source. If you want to peer behind the curtain, or write code to support more councils, the code is available on GitHub ️ https://github.com/bellingcat/CouncilSearcher

Finding key information shared at council meetings takes time and effort. Today, we've launched a tool that allows you to search verbatim quotes from council meetings in the UK and Ireland, without the need to watch long recordings or sift through extensive notes. https://council-search.bellingcat.com/

We've received a lot of applications from non U.S. students to this. Please note you must apply with an .edu email to be considered.
If you're interested in training and are not a student in the USA we have a full list of upcoming public trainings here: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/

Students may register for one or both sessions, but should be prepared that some topics will be repeated. Places are limited and preference will be given to students, but if we have available seats we will accept faculty and staff.
Please use .edu email accounts to register for the webinars!

The second webinar "Introduction to Open Source Research: Where on the Internet?" will take place on Sept. 24-25, 12-4pm PDT// 3-7 pm EDT and will focus on search fundamentals and investigating online profiles from digital footprint tracing to facial recognition. https://www.eventzilla.net/e/open-source-research-where-on-the-internet-2138685204

The first webinar "Introduction to Open Source Research: Where in the world?" will take place on Sept. 17-18, 12-4pm PDT// 3-7 pm EDT, covering an introduction to online research and how to verify an image, determining when and where an image has been taken. https://www.eventzilla.net/e/introduction-to-open-source-research-where-in-the-world-2138684061

Academic or student in the USA? Our research techniques can be useful in assessing fake news. We're helping students to investigate and better understand the anti-democratic online ideologies that threaten their communities with two free webinars on digital investigation skills this September 🧵

Know someone in academia in the USA who may be interested in this? Please share these links far and wide!

https://www.eventzilla.net/e/introduction-to-open-source-research-where-in-the-world-2138684061

https://www.eventzilla.net/e/open-source-research-where-on-the-internet-2138685204