Was such a pleasure to speak with @alixdunn.com about automated governance alongside this stellar lineup

Alix Dunn@alixdunn.com · last mo.

I spoke with @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social, Maria Pilar Llorens, Purity Mukami, and Divij Joshi about the consequences of automated governing in Argentina, Kenya, and India. Catch the conversation here: www.themaybe.org/podcast/real...

Governments across the Global Majority are trying to tackle tough problems with tech. But instead of creating the oft-promised efficiencies, these tools are delivering deeper inequities–while making them harder to see and challenge.

Soon, when a 15-year-old asylum seeker arrives in the UK, there’s a good chance that a border officer will feed a picture of their face into an AI age estimation tool that will guess whether they are an adult or not. New @lighthousereports.com investigation shows that tool is deeply flawed

Incredibly important story by @maybulman.bsky.social and team at @lighthousereports.com with WIRED and The Independent. @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social @mattburgess1.bsky.social @hollybancroft.bsky.social Maddy Varner Sadly, the shape of things to come in the EU www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Asylum by Algorithm

The UK has turned to AI to determine the age of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.

lighthousereports.com

It was such a pleasure to speak with @themaybe.org about our new investigation

The Maybe@themaybe.org · 3mo ago

What seemed like a shiny technical solution, however, actually made Kenya’s healthcare situation much worse. For this Tech Story of the Week, @alixdunn.com speaks to @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social and Purity Mukami, two journalists who worked together to rebuild the algorithm and test it themselves.

Kenya is using AI that assesses your toilet to set your healthcare bill. I’ve reported on this topic for a long time, across many different countries. None have struck me as this consequential, with stakes so high.

In this masterclass video, part of @gijn.org's new #TechFocus, Lighthouse Reports investigative journalist Gabriel Geiger shares practical tips for reporting on how governments use algorithms and AI systems for policing, welfare, & healthcare. Watch the full video ⬇️ https://twp.ai/E6IByA

Odds that it was vibe-coded with Claude?

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5mo ago

A couple of young, viral developers are making $500,000 a month with ‘Quittr’; an app to help people with porn addiction. Insane money, living in a mansion, etc. We found they exposed the masturbation habits of 100,000s of users, then lied about fixing it www.404media.co/viral-quittr...

🎅2️⃣0️⃣ Inside the Suspicion Machine, by @evaconstantaras.bsky.social, @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social, @jusbraun.bsky.social, @dmehro.bsky.social, and Htet Aung from @lighthousereports.com in @wired.com www.wired.com/story/welfar...

Inside the Suspicion Machine

Obscure government algorithms are making life-changing decisions about millions of people around the world. Here, for the first time, we reveal how one of these systems works.

wired.com

Unveiling the murky underbelly of the surveillance industry through the lens of First Wap, this investigation critiques how the company navigates regulatory frameworks to sell powerful surveillance tools. By @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social, @lighthousereports.com in @motherjones.com

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.

buff.ly

"The archive contained more than a million tracking operations: efforts to grab real-time locations of thousands of people worldwide. What emerged is one of the most complete pictures to date of the modern surveillance industry."

Gabriel Geiger@gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 10mo ago

We made more than 100 cold calls. Each one began the same way: “You’ve been targeted by government-grade surveillance tech.” In our @lighthousereports.com collab with @revealnews.org, you can hear the voices on the other end. revealnews.org/podcast/cell...

What I’ve been working on… Incredible reporting from @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social and @cr0ft0n.bsky.social at @lighthousereports.com Then, Michael Montgomery @revealnews.org made it into a radio story that I was lucky enough to edit. What a partnership. 14 newsrooms. 😮

Gabriel Geiger@gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 10mo ago

We made more than 100 cold calls. Each one began the same way: “You’ve been targeted by government-grade surveillance tech.” In our @lighthousereports.com collab with @revealnews.org, you can hear the voices on the other end. revealnews.org/podcast/cell...

We made more than 100 cold calls. Each one began the same way: “You’ve been targeted by government-grade surveillance tech.” In our @lighthousereports.com collab with @revealnews.org, you can hear the voices on the other end. revealnews.org/podcast/cell...

A young reporter discovers a mysterious trove of data that exposes a global surveillance empire.

In a major investigation, a young reporter uncovers a powerful technology used to spy on thousands of people across the world.

revealnews.org

Politiker, Journalist:innen, Dissidenten, aber auch Private wurden jahrelange überwacht - ohne deren Wissen. Die #SurveillanceSecrets Recherchen zeigen den bisher wohl größten bekannten Datensatz aus der Überwachungsbranche - mit vielen Verbindungen nach AT... 1/3 youtu.be/U6vIlLueOPU

Die Firma, die dich überall finden kann

YouTube video by DER STANDARD

youtu.be

🧵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

EXCLUSIVE: This tech has been used to track heads of state, journalists, and maybe even you. @lighthousereports.com uncovered a vast surveillance empire whose untraceable tech has been used to target people in more than 100 countries. It has operated under the radar for decades. Until now.

Come for the incredible reporting, stay for the “I think I felt like shitting my pants or something”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfWy...

This Secret Tech Tracked World Leaders, a Vatican Enemy, and Maybe You

YouTube video by Mother Jones

youtube.com

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

EXCLUSIVE: Our friends at @lighthousereports.com obtained a secret data trove. It revealed a vast global surveillance empire whose tech has been used to target politicians, journalists, tech execs, and Jared Leto. The story only gets wilder from there.

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

Se mesi fa su Google cercavi First Wap, azienda che fa prodotti di sorveglianza da circa 20 anni, trovavi poco—negli ultimi giorni nulla. Oggi con @lighthousereports.com @papertrailmedia.de @irpimedia.eu e altri partner riveliamo tutto #SurveillanceSecrets www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Surveillance Secrets

Trove of surveillance data challenges what we thought we knew about location tracking tools, who they target and how far they have spread

lighthousereports.com

Very happy to be bringing this story to @revealnews.org this weekend.

Gabriel Geiger@gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 10mo ago

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

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

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

Said this in the other place and perhaps worth repeating here: this is just such a careful and almost brutally honest analysis of the ways that our efforts to "fix" things at the technical artifact level can fundamentally fall short of making meaningful system wide impact. Lots to learn here.

Deb Raji@rajiinio.bsky.social · last yr.

For almost a decade, there's been a lot of (justified) hand-wringing and paper-writing about fairness issues in AI. This case gets to the heart of a very important question - how much of that work has materially improved the lives of real people? Grateful for this careful & honest investigation.

I’ve spent a lot of time investigating shitty AI cynically used to pursue vulnerable people in welfare systems. When I talk about this work, I invariably get asked: is it possible to make these systems fair?

New from me @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social + Justin-Casimir Braun: Amsterdam believed that it could build a #predictiveAI for welfare fraud that would ALSO be fair, unbiased, & a positive case study for #ResponsibleAI. It didn't work. Our deep dive why: www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/11/1...

Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI

The Dutch city thought it could break a decade-long trend of implementing discriminatory algorithms. Its failure raises the question: can these programs ever be fair?

technologyreview.com

Delighted to see this project shortlisted for the Sigma awards alongside a host of other incredible data journalism projects from around the world.

Christian Nicolai Bjørke@cbjoerke.bsky.social · last yr.

So happy that our project «Inequality for the law» is on the shortlist. 🏆 Lucky to have been collaborating with the talented people at @lighthousereports.com. @elenadebre.bsky.social @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social @jusbraun.bsky.social

So happy that our project «Inequality for the law» is on the shortlist. 🏆 Lucky to have been collaborating with the talented people at @lighthousereports.com. @elenadebre.bsky.social @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social @jusbraun.bsky.social

Global Investigative Journalism Network@gijn.org · last yr.

💫 NEW! GIJN, the new home of the Sigma Awards, is proud to announce the 2025 shortlist for the best data journalism projects and portfolios in the past year. 👏 50 data journalism projects from 24 countries made it to the final round of the competition. https://twp.ai/9PSjQG