Daniel Howden
@daniel-howden.bsky.social
Founder & director at Lighthouse Reports, focused on migration, tech, surveillance. Previously at Economist, The Independent
For our third installment of our Vaporstate series, @alixdunn.com spoke with two phenomenal journalists from @lighthousereports.com: @daniel-howden.bsky.social and @bearamalhosilva.bsky.social about their months-long investigation into TBI and Oracle. They’ve got the goods. Check it out:
The Maybe
themaybe.org
1/Stop everything and read/watch/bookmark this massive investigation between @motherjones.com @lighthousereports.com Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Paper Trail Media a vast global surveillance empire used to target politicians, journalists, tech CEOs, and... Jared Leto. ow.ly/2LUF50Xb7KE
The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you
We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.
ow.ly
On a Saturday night I stumbled across something on the internet that made me feel like ****** my pants. A giant dataset of real surveillance operations targeting 1000s of people across nearly every country. Unraveling it and the mysterious company behind it has consumed 1.5 years of my life
Legendary work from @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social. He and a team uncovered a trove of data from a surveillance firm — location data from thousands of phone numbers from nearly every country on Earth. The firm had been tracking everyone from Erik Prince to journalists to Jared Leto.
The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you
Inside the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.
motherjones.com
The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you www.motherjones.com/politics/202... A stunning investigation by @lighthousereports.com of what I call "despotism as a service"👇
The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you
We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.
motherjones.com
🧵What’s the biggest lie the surveillance industry tells? That they only sell to legal clients. That there are red lines. But what do these companies say when they think nobody is watching? We went undercover to find out
People often ask what it's like behind the scenes at the world's top spy tech trade fair, ISS World. Turns out it's like this bsky.app/profile/ligh...
Lighthouse Reports@lighthousereports.com · 10mo ago🧵What’s the biggest lie the surveillance industry tells? That they only sell to legal clients. That there are red lines. But what do these companies say when they think nobody is watching? We went undercover to find out
Revealed: How Tony Blair is lobbying on behalf of tech billionaire Larry Ellison We expose former PM’s unprecedented influence over the UK govt & how this is shaped by the interests of his Institute’s largest donor & one of the world’s richest men www.newstatesman.com/politics/202... Thread
Inside the Tony Blair Institute
Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?
newstatesman.com
🔴 Tony Blair's ties to Larry Ellison should disqualify him from any role in Gaza - or in Britain's tech future. New by me and @daniel-howden.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale and @lighthousereports.com democracyforsale.substack.com/p/tony-blair...
Tony Blair - Larry Ellison's man in Gaza?
Blair's ties to the Oracle founder and Trump booster should disqualify him from any role in Gaza - or in Britain's tech future
democracyforsale.substack.com
Breaking ‘shouldn’t happen to white people’ immigration news. Canadian actress detained by ICE. Follows ridiculous blow up in Uk over couple fined for stowaway. No mention of non white detainees or context on racist dragnet catching human whitebait www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Canadian actor detained at US border in ‘inhumane conditions’ for nearly two weeks
Entrepreneur and actor Jasmine Mooney, who had a role in an American Pie sequel, says she was arrested at southern border and held in detention over an incomplete work visa
theguardian.com
Norway’s criminal justice system ranks as one of the most impartial in the world. Yet with partner NRK, we found that people are on trial not only for what they may have done, but for who they are.
Inequality Before the Law
Investigating bias in the world’s most vaunted criminal justice system.
lighthousereports.com
What is happening at Europe's borders, and how can human rights be protected? Come to WORM Rotterdam on TUE 21 JAN 25 & join the De Dependance's Nuria Ribas Costa, @lhreports.bsky.social Klaas van Dijken, @gesanchez.bsky.social & local activists. 🕣19:30 📍Boomgaardstraat 71 Tickets: dedependance.eu
Across Europe college-educated migrants are locked out of the skilled workforce due to policy failures. @publico.pt & @lhreports.bsky.social reveal how Portugal mitigated brain waste, as well as the limits of this success
A worthless diploma: In Brazil, Gianna is a teacher; in Portugal, she struggles to teach | PÚBLICO
Across Portugal, thousands of foreign teachers are trapped in a bureaucratic maze, suffering from ‘brain waste’ as they are barred from professional positions that go unfilled
publico.pt
The Premium Times reveals how the US government program on GMOs in Nigeria steamrolled resistance from health+environmental advocates. We discovered derogatory profiles of Nigerians who raised concerns about GMOs, the activist Nnimmo Bassey + Labour Party candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour among them.
INVESTIGATION: Toxic Tactics: US govt funds pesticide/GM propaganda in Nigeria
Celebrated activist Nnimmo Bassey and political candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour were profiled as part of a US government-funded campaign to undermine global critics of pesticides and GMOs.
premiumtimesng.com
The Rio Grande on the Texas-Mexico border has become a graveyard for migrants. In the latest episode of Backlight, we speak to @mdelbosque.bsky.social about the human toll of US border militarization and untold stories of those who drowned. 🎙️ Listen now: www.lighthousereports.com/investigatin...
Investigating border deaths in the shadow of US election
In this episode we take you behind the scenes of our latest U.S.-Mexico border investigation, Drownings and Deterrence in the Rio Grande.
lighthousereports.com
A year ago, I pushed off with a kayak down the Rio Grande in the great company of Jesse Fuentes and @mdelbosque.bsky.social We entered the water from what used to be the park in Eagle Pass, Texas
Thinking today of Syrian friends & so many other amazing Syrians met over the last decade on the reporting trail. Hard to comprehend the scale of damage wrought by the despicable and belatedly deposed Assads
amazing work by my colleague @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social in a series that exposes the racism built into algorithms used by govt agencies and its real, human consequences.
Gabriel Geiger@gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 2y agoI do a lot of FOIA and I’m used to stonewalling. But Sweden surprised me. After 3 years of telling me no, a high level official at Sweden’s welfare agency Försäkringskassan accidentally left me on cc, writing “Now we must hope that we are done with him.”
Trying to follow closely what’s happening in Syria & Georgia where there’s a news lag. Twitter lists were brilliant for this, curious if Bsky can provide. Recommendations for follows v welcome
Serious impact in Sweden where the welfare agency has been called before parliament to answer questions over discriminatory algorithms used to profile benefits recipients www.svd.se/a/63VOxo/eft...
Efter SvD:s granskning – MP kräver AI-garantier
Miljöpartiet kritiserar Försäkringskassan efter att SvD avslöjat om hur myndigheten använt AI för att hitta misstänkta fuskare. Partiets tidigare språkrör Märta Stenevi (MP) vill nu kalla myndighetens...
svd.se
Come, work with us at @investigate-eu.bsky.social and help take investigative cross-border journalism to the next level. Apply now (until 6 December 2024) or share if you know someone who knows someone. Happy also to answer any questions. Link: www.investigate-europe.eu/en/opportuni...
Coordinating Editor
Investigate Europe
investigate-europe.eu
Amazing work by @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social on the latest @lhreports.bsky.social suspicion machines investigation. This is a crazy tale of AI ethics washing: The welfare agency had been told that it's tool was crappy. It responded by making up a ludicrous fairness definition.
Gabriel Geiger@gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 2y agoI do a lot of FOIA and I’m used to stonewalling. But Sweden surprised me. After 3 years of telling me no, a high level official at Sweden’s welfare agency Försäkringskassan accidentally left me on cc, writing “Now we must hope that we are done with him.”
So we have a podcast, it’s good. The latest Backlight is about how to get sources to talk. The least I can do is get people to listen www.lighthousereports.com/how-to-get-s...
Backlight: How to get sources to talk
Essential skills and techniques on building sources and getting them to open up.
lighthousereports.com
Secretive algorithms deployed in Sweden's vaunted welfare system cast suspicion on innocent women & migrants while ignoring men & the affluent. We reveal with @SvD how Sweden built this system then stonewalled journalists
How FOIA actually works, as opposed to how it’s meant to work, in model Sweden
Gabriel Geiger@gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 2y agoI do a lot of FOIA and I’m used to stonewalling. But Sweden surprised me. After 3 years of telling me no, a high level official at Sweden’s welfare agency Försäkringskassan accidentally left me on cc, writing “Now we must hope that we are done with him.”
I do a lot of FOIA and I’m used to stonewalling. But Sweden surprised me. After 3 years of telling me no, a high level official at Sweden’s welfare agency Försäkringskassan accidentally left me on cc, writing “Now we must hope that we are done with him.”
The 2024 class of GIJN Board members are: 🇧🇷 @guilherme-https://twp.ai/1IXE2Y 🇺🇸 @branthouston.bsky.social 🇳🇱 @daniel-howden.bsky.social 🇷🇴 @paulradu.bsky.social 🇿🇦 Rana Sabbagh 🇧🇫 Elza Sandrine Sawadogo 🇺🇸 Marina Walker Guevara Learn more about the results: gijn.org/stories/gij...
Delighted to be joining some incredible journalists on the board of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (hopefully soon to join Bluesky). It’s going to be an incredibly intense period for the community doing this work gijn.org
Global Investigative Journalism Network
GIJN is an international association of nonprofit organizations that support, promote, and produce investigative journalism. GIJN hosts conferences and provides training, resources, and consulting.
gijn.org
Daily life in Kinshasa's tallest residential tower, the "Presidential Galeries", built in the 1970s by Mobutu with luxurious marble floors and escalators. My film will be screened at the beautiful Dakar biennale on Nov 30.
Newsletter from me on the democratic implications of Labour's desperation for Big Tech investment, the chilling effects of message discipline, and why the UK needs a progressive tech movement (clue: it's to balance out the fascists) buttondown.com/justenoughin...
