DISINFO: Bellingcat: An American propaganda machine
SUMMARY
Bellingcat is a propaganda machine for the American military-industrial complex, funded by the [American] government.
RESPONSE
This is part of a recurrent Russian narrative to discredit the investigative site Bellingcat, which uncovered many elements in cases such as the downing of the MH17 flight or the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergey Skripal that contradict and expose Russian disinformation narratives.
Bellingcat platform was created in 2014 with the help of private donations received through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. In March 2019 it received 500 thousand EUR donation from the Dutch postcode lottery. Half of the funding for Bellingcat comes from grants and donations and the other half from running workshops training people in the art of open-source investigations.
The platform clearly mentions that "around 35% of Bellingcat’s budget is currently raised from workshops" and much of the grant money does not directly fund investigations and is used for support services such as document translations and training.