Investigations
From the repercussions of online disinformation on politics to the use of social media for activism, our investigations focus on topics at the intersection of democracy and technology.
Are romance bots really a mental health fix?
A whole industry of romance AI apps are marketing themselves as something they are not. Manasa Narayanan reports.
In brief
Investigation
The TikTok Election – How Reform got to be so popular
In this Public Inquiry feature, we analyse the TikTok content put out by UK political parties in the lead up to 2024 UK general elections.
Investigation
Visibility or Invisibility: Does social media help or hinder pro-Palestine university camps?
The Citizens’ Manasa Narayanan travelled to UK universities to learn how students in pro-Palestine camps are making use of social media: amidst media mistrust, censorship, far-right harassment and university crackdown.
Investigation
New DNA technique could bring closure for families of missing and murdered Indigenous people
Martha Troian and Hilary Beaumont, our Tiny Fellows, investigate the world of DNA sovereignty for High Country News
Investigation
UK anti-abortion charity ran misleading Facebook ads, spend rising tenfold in three years
Manasa Narayanan and Sian Norris uncover how an anti-abortion charity has spent nearly £190,000 on Facebook ad campaigns in the last three years, putting out misleading ads on the platform, in an attempt to reverse progress of abortion rights in the UK.
Investigation
Hate As Bait: The Instagram Network Using Far-Right Content To Lure Users To Porn
A UK-based pornography company, more than a dozen Instagram pages & hate as bait. Manasa Narayanan investigates.
Investigation
£203 million boost for Covid contract winners with Conservative links
Max Colbert digs into the latest accounts of firms that were awarded hundreds of millions in Government deals
Investigation
Covid contract-winning firm owned by Tory donor sees major financial boost
Max Colbert reports on the millions gained by one of the government’s PPE suppliers
Investigation
How the tentacles of Palantir continue to encircle the NHS
The Citizens and Byline Times explore the implications of the tech firm’s ever-expanding role in British healthcare
Investigation
Labour members left in dark over data breach
There has been a lack of transparency from the Labour Party over a significant ransomware attack last year, a joint investigation by the Citizens and Byline Times reveals
Investigation
News outlet poured money into ads linked to anti-Amber Heard propaganda
The Daily Wire paid more than $35,000 for Facebook and Instagram ads on stories backing Johnny Depp. Alice McCool tells the story of our investigation for VICE
Investigation
#Ungratefulcow: the truth behind the Nazanin hashtags
Within hours of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release from imprisonment in Iran, #ungratefulcow and #sendherhome were trending on Twitter. Why? Digital media expert Marc Owen Jones finds out who’s behind the hashtags
Investigation
Who’s behind Uganda’s #EndLockdownNow movement?
A new campaign is spreading Covid disinformation in Uganda, supported by conservative groups from the West. Alice McCool of the Citizens reports from Kampala on her joint investigation with Khatondi Soita Wepukhulu of openDemocracy
Investigation
£100 million profit boost for firms given government contracts through ‘VIP’ Lane
Companies that were channelled through the government’s controversial high-priority PPE procurement process have seen their earnings significantly increase
Investigation
How ‘sovereign citizen’ ideology found a home in the UK’s anti-vax movement
Britain’s ancient common law system is being called into service by an increasingly aggressive wing of the anti-vax movement
Investigation
Anti-vax groups want to ‘save the children’ – but what do teens actually want?
As 12-17 year olds are offered the vaccine, UK anti-vaccination networks are gearing up to respond with increasingly extreme actions, the Citizens can reveal
Investigation
Covid contract winners with links to Conservative party see £121 million profit boost
Twelve COVID-contract winning firms with ties to the Conservative Party have increased their profits by 57%, Byline Times and the Citizens reveal
Investigation
Quarter of top Conservative donors have received honours or peerages
An investigation into the Tory party’s elite donors by the Byline Intelligence Team and the Citizens reveals that the vast majority received their awards in the same time period as they were gifting significant sums of money
Investigation
£11.6 bn in public contracts won by registered lobbying firms since 2015
Companies that aim to influence government policy have been awarded deals worth billions in recent years
Investigation
Firm owned by Conservative donor who is Dido Harding’s colleague wins £5.9m in Covid deals
The owner of a private equity company has donated £10,000 to Matt Hancock, and sits on the board of NHS Improvement. One of his firms has won government Coronavirus contracts worth millions
Investigation
£2.5 million government contracts for firm that donated £240,000 to Conservative party
Another company with links to the ruling party has been awarded multi-million-pound deals during the Coronavirus pandemic