Covid-19 relief schemes in many countries have supported furloughed workers and helped keep businesses afloat in recent months.

But analysis by the Bellingcat Tech Team has found indications of geographic inequities in some programs. bellingcat.com/news/2020/12/0…
We looked at schemes in the US, France and the United Kingdom, burrowing into sector-specific data and creating interactive maps for our readers to explore.
The US data appeared to suggest that the Payment Protection Program (PPP), which offered loans to small and medium sized business, could have exacerbated existing inequalities.
In Los Angeles, for example, data showed that restaurants in wealthy neighborhoods such as the Hollywood Hills had generous access to PPP loans. However, establishments around South Central Los Angeles, which are much less wealthy and much less white, had far fewer loans.
This pattern was repeated in towns and cities across the United States.
Programs analyzed by Bellingcat in Great Britain and France show more uniform disbursement of aid, especially through larger programs. However, smaller programs, like the UK Small Business Grants Fund still show concerning correlations with income and race.
Read the full story and explore the data we used to produce this piece. bellingcat.com/news/2020/12/0…

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More from @bellingcat

26 Nov
The @Frontex saga continues.

Our partners @derspiegel reveal Frontex boss Leggeri has been deceptive about his agency’s knowledge of illegal push-backs of asylum seekers.

spiegel.de/politik/auslan…
Leggeri has said that Frontex’s knowledge about push-backs is based on media accusations, and that Frontex has no evidence of them happening.

However, documents unearthed by @derspiegel show otherwise.
At least one push-back was recorded in detail: on April 19 a Frontex plane observed the Greek Coast Guard tow a dinghy full of people to the Greek-Turkish sea border.

The dinghy was then abandoned. It had no means of propulsion and was left adrift in the middle of the sea.
Read 4 tweets
19 Nov
As the internal conflict between Ethiopia's government and #Tigray forces continues, accusations have been made that Emirati armed #drones are launching attacks from a base in nearby Eritrea. Does that claim hold true? We checked with @planetlabs imagery: bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-w…
@planetlabs Drones are not new to this part of the world. In fact, since 2015, Chinese-made drones have been spotted on satellite images of the Assab Air Base in Eritrea. The facility is used by the UAE for its military campaign in #Yemen. Image
@planetlabs New satellite imagery shows an Emirati Wing Loong II drone at the Assab base. But Ethiopia has its own jet fighters, and open-source information confirms their use. As the UAE has no bone to pick with either side, the prospect of its drones in the conflict zone looks unlikely. Image
Read 4 tweets
12 Nov
In our newest investigation Bellingcat exposes the relationship between the Russian foreign intelligence services and the MH17 focused "independent investigative platform" Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2)
bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…
Phone records and leaked emails obtained by Bellingcat show that since its founding by former RT journalist Yana Yerlashova there has been multiple communications between Yerlashova and two GRU officers.
Col. Sergey Chebanov – a graduate of Russia’s Military Intelligence Academy - received multiple updates about Bonanza's activities and plans, including draft press releases and articles.
Read 13 tweets
11 Nov
A new online influence operation that seeks to counter West Papua’s independence movement appears to have emerged on prominent social media sites, as @BenDoBrown reports. bellingcat.com/news/2020/11/1…
@BenDoBrown The discovery comes roughly one year after a similar network of fake accounts was uncovered by Bellingcat.
@BenDoBrown Although the new web of between 100 and 200 accounts has made little impact thus far, it appears to stretch across Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.
Read 8 tweets
10 Nov
The Shatt al-Arab river is the lifeline of southern #Iraq. Yet, wars, poor governance and oil spills have exacerbated pollution and public health concerns, fuelling protest and ecological activism. Here's what @wammez and @MahaalGhareeb found: bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020…
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb Agricultural areas around #Basra have suffered immensely from decades of conflict, which has destroyed date palms and damaged marshlands. Furthermore, #climatecrisis induced salinisation impacts fertility and soil quality in the region, destroying farmers' livelihoods.
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb After southern Iraq's 2018 health crisis, promises were made to improve the situation and provide clean water. Yet little has changed. Sewage and oil spills into the upstream #Euphrates and #Tigris rivers continue. The country's water infrastructure remains in a poor state.
Read 6 tweets
29 Oct
Together with @ForensicArchi, we have verified and mapped over 1,000 incidents of police violence against protesters in the United States. We found widespread and systematic violence against unarmed civilians. bellingcat.com/news/americas/…
@ForensicArchi In June, we visualized 150 instances of violence against journalists at the protests. Since then, the protests, and the backlash from law enforcement, have continued, with little to no accountability for the officers involved. bellingcat.com/news/americas/…
@ForensicArchi With the help of other researchers (such as @greg_doucette) we collected data from social media, verifying each incident down to the exact coordinates. We are making the dataset that informed this platform publicly available, and you can view it here:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
Read 5 tweets

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